8 Columbus-Area Schools Just Ranked Among Best In America

COLUMBUS, OH — Eight schools in and around Columbus have been nationally recognized for excellence, earning silver or bronze medals in the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings. The highest ranked local school on the list was Grandview Heights High School, located near the Columbus border.

Here are the schools that made the list and their rankings:

• Grandview Heights High School
  • National rank: 731
  • State rank: 27
  • Medal: Silver
• Columbus Alternative High School
  • National rank: 786
  • State rank: 32
  • Medal: Silver
• Arts and College Preparatory Academy
  • National rank: 1544
  • State rank: 59
  • Medal: Silver
• Columbus Grove High School
  • National rank: 2026
  • State rank: 85
  • Medal: Silver
• Worthington Kilbourne High School
  • National rank: 2287
  • State rank: 104
  • Medal: Silver
• Hamilton Township High School
  • State rank: 147
  • Medal: Bronze
• Metro Early College High School
  • Medal: Bronze
• Patriot Preparatory Academy
  • Medal: Bronze

Bronze medal schools are not ranked by U.S. News.

The 2018 best high school rankings evaluate nearly 21,000 public high schools. U.S. News identified schools that best serve all students and assessed how prepared students are for college-level work. Schools are also recognized with gold, silver and bronze medals with gold indicating the greatest level of college readiness.

High school students in Ohio have to earn at least 20 credits in various subjects, including four credits of English language arts, four of math, three of science and three of social studies. High schoolers in Ohio must also learn economics and financial literacy to graduate, as well as take two or more semesters of fine arts, according to the Ohio Department of Education.

Of the numerous Ohio schools ranked in 2018, 19 were awarded gold medals, 111 earned silver medals and 183 received bronze medals.

“Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students,” Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a press release.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the social science research firm RTI International. A variety of data sources, including the Common Core of Data, College Board and the International Baccalaureate, were used.

A four-step process was used to rank all eligible schools. The first two steps were to determine whether students were performing better than statistically expected in the state and whether minority were performing at or better than the state average for minority students, which was the second step. The third step required schools to meet or surpass a certain graduation benchmark and the final step was to determine college readiness. (You can read the full methodology here.)

The top 10 high schools in the U.S. overall are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale (AZ)
2. BASIS Chandler (AZ)
3. BASIS Oro Valley (AZ)
4. BASIS Tucson North (AZ)
5. BASIS Flagstaff (AZ)
6. Meridian School (TX)
7. International Academy of Macomb (MI)
8. BASIS Peoria (AZ)
9. Baccalaureate School for Global Education (NY)
10. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)

Click here to see the full rankings and for more insight on the data.

Patch reporter Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock