Wheaton North High School Makes Newsweek’s Top High Schools, 'Beating the Odds' Lists

WHEATON, IL - Wheaton North High School has been ranked among the top high schools in America, according to the 2016 rankings by Newsweek released on Thursday morning.

Wheaton North received a ranking of No. 204 on this year’s list. Last year, the local high school was ranked No. 388 on Newsweek’s list.

Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago landed in the top spot for Illinois schools, with a No. 8 rank nationally.

• Click here to read about how other Illinois schools ranked on Newsweek's list

The top school in America for 2016, according to Newsweek, is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.

Wheaton North High School was also recognized on Newsweek's “beating the odds” list with a No. 139 spot.

Newsweek used six factors to create its top schools list, weighing each measurement to create a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how prepared students are for college by the time they leave high school.
Those measurements and their weight include:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

For "beating the odds," each school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools with similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.