Best High Schools In Minnesota 2017: U.S. News And World Report

U.S. News and World Report has crunched the numbers for 2017, releasing its annual list of best high schools in the country, ranking the schools on a national and a state level.

In Minnesota, the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury earned the title of the best high school in the state. Overall, the school ranked as the 203rd best high school in the country. Orono Senior High ranked as the second best in the state, followed by Mahtomedi Senior High.

No Minnesota high schools were ranked in top 100 for 2017. Seven Minnesota high schools were given gold medals by U.S. News, 48 received silver medals and the remaining 15 schools received bronze medals. Compared to other states, Minnesota came in 27th overall.

Eastern neighbor Wisconsin was ranked 19th, while western neighbor North Dakota was ranked 43rd, and South Dakota was ranked dead last at 51st. Iowa was ranked 47th.

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 Minnesota are:

1. Math and Science Academy (National Rank: 203)
2. Orono Senior High (National Rank: 249)
3. Mahtomedi Senior High (National Rank: 286)
4. Edina Senior High (National Rank: 313)
5. Mankato West Senior High (National Rank: 449)
6. Mounds View Senior High (National Rank: 460)
7. Minnetonka Senior High (National Rank: 477)
8. Eastview Senior High (National Rank: 521)
9. Irondale Senior High (National Rank: 538)
10. Eagan Senior High (National Rank: 597)

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.

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