3 District 211 High Schools Among Top-Ranked In Illinois: U.S. News And World Report

PALATINE, IL — Three schools from Palatine-based Township High School District 211 were ranked among the top 50 high schools in Illinois for 2017 by U.S. News and World Report, which released its annual lists that rank the schools on a national and a state level. Although no schools serving Palatine made the list, James B. Conant , Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates high schools made the magazine's grade.

Conant High School earned the highest ranking on the list, coming in at the No. 29 spot. Schaumburg High School was rated at No. 38, and Hoffman Estates High Schools made it into the top 50 at No. 47. Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago was the top-ranked school in Illinois, also ranking No. 40 on the national list.

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Four schools from Arlington Heights-based Township High School District 214 were named to the list, as well. Prospect High School in Mount Prospect was No. 9 on the list, earning the highest ranking for high schools serving Arlington Heights. John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights just missed the top 10, listing at No. 11, and similarly, Buffalo Grove High School barely missed the list's top 15 at No. 16. Rolling Meadows High School was the other District 214 school that made top 25, coming in at No. 21.

The rankings for Prospect and Hersey earned them gold medal status from the magazine, while the other schools in the top 50 were named silver medal schools. Districts 211 and 214 also were featured school systems.

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include date on more than 20,000 high schools. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.

The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state, factoring in percentages of economically disadvantaged students to identify schools. Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for the least-advantaged students.

For the next two steps, U.S. News looked at graduation rates and college readiness performance. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th graders who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

To be ranked numerically nationally, schools had to pass steps 1-3 and have a college readiness index of 20.91 or above.

A total of 6,041 schools were ranked, 500 schools receiving gold medals, 2,109 schools receiving silver medals and the remaining 3,432 schools received bronze medals. Schools that received bronze medals passed the first three steps but were not ranked numerically in the national rankings. The state rankings were based on whether a high school received a gold, silver or a bronze medal and had a CRI value of 10 or higher. Previously, only gold and silver medal winners were ranked numerically on the state level.

The top high 10 schools in Illinois are:

1. Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago (national rank: 40)
2. Payton College Preparatory High School, Chicago (64)
3. Jones College Prep High School, Chicago (110)
4. Young Magnet High School, Chicago (132)
5. Lane Technical High School, Chicago (156)
6. Adlai E Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire (194)
7. Hinsdale Central High School, Hinsdale (332)
8. Lincoln Park High School, Chicago (350)
9. Prospect High School, Mount Prospect (364)
10. Brooks College Prep Academy High School, Chicago (398)

Click here to see the full list.

The top high schools in the country are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
2. BASIS Tucson North, Tucson, Arizona
3. BASIS Oro Valley, Oro Valley, Arizona
4. School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, Texas
5. BASIS Peoria, Peoria, Arizona
6. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
7. Basis Chandler, Chandler, Arizona
8. Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, Texas
9. School of Science and Engineering, Dallas, Texas
10. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, California

Click here to see the full list.

Patch National Staff Editor Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.

photo via Shutterstock

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