Pittsburgh CAPA Rated Pennsylvania's 21st-Best High School

PITTSBURGH, PA - U.S. News & World Report has rated Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts School the state’s 21st-best secondary school in its annual ranking of the nation’s best high schools released on Tuesday.

CAPA and two other Pittsburgh Public Schools secondary schools -- Taylor Allderdice and the Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy -- were among just 78 high schools across the state to earn a prestigious silver medal from U.S. News. The awards are based on a school’s performance on state assessments and how well it prepares students for college; just 12 percent of the 675 high schools U.S. News analyzed received silver medals.

Vaulting CAPA to near the top of the state rankings was a graduation rate of 97 percent and a college readiness score of 47.2. A score of 20.91 or higher is required to be ranked nationally.

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.

No western Pennsylvania high school received a gold medal from U.S. News. The following schools were awarded the silver status (state and national rankings are listed parenthetically):

• Pine-Richland (7, 501)

• Mt. Lebanon (11, 638)

• USC (12, 666)

• North Allegheny (14, 708)

• Hampton (16, 768)

• South Fayette (20, 843)

• Pittsburgh CAPA (21, 845)

• Peters (23, 903)

• Fox Chapel (29, 1,133)

• Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice (42, 1,586)

• Mars Area (58, 1,843)

• Moon (69, 2,222)

• Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy (70, 2,230)

• Greater Latrobe (72, 2,306)

• Beaver Area (76, 2,413)

• Ligonier Valley (83, 2,554)

High schools receiving bronze designations are ranked numerically in their state but not nationally. Western Pennsylvania schools award bronze medals include Gateway (87), Keystone Oaks (88) South Park (109),
Pittsburgh Carrick (130), Springdale (131), Woodland Hills (134) and Uniontown (148).

The complete state rankings can be found here.

Photo by Henry C. Schmitt via Creative Commons.