14 Philly Schools Among PA's Best: U.S. News And World Report

PHILADELPHIA – U.S. News And World Report released new rankings for high schools, both nationally and among states. In the new rankings, Philadelphia is represented very well. So well in fact, that the best high school in Pennsylvania is right here in the city.

According to the outlet, Julia R. Masterman Secondary School Philadelphia is the best high school in Pennsylvania and is also ranked 51st nationally in the new list.

The school boasts a 99 percent graduation rate and 100 percent proficiency in English and math, according to the outlet.

Additionally, it has a 99 percent AP test taking rate, with a 92 percent pass rate.

You can see all of the metrics measured at Julia R. Masterman Secondary School online here.

Other schools in Philadelphia that made the list are:

• Central High School, 18th in PA, 791st nationally
• Academy at Palumbo, 31st in PA, 1197th nationally
• Mast Community Charter School, 36th in PA, 1399 nationally
• Creative and Performing Arts, 52nd in PA, 1725th nationally
• Carver High School, 64th in PA, 2071st nationally
• Girard Academic Music Program, 65th in PA, 2097th nationally
• Motivation High School, 71st in PA, 2257th nationally
• Girls High School, 79th in PA, 2481st nationally
  
• Mastery Charter School - Thomas Campus, 81st in PA, 2507th nationally
  
• Franklin Learning Center, 82nd in PA, 2516th nationally
• Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush, 85th in PA
• New Foundations Charter School, 91st in PA

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 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.

Here are those steps:

• 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.

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