Conestoga Ranks 36th On Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools List For 2016

Congratulations to Conestoga High School, which made Newsweek’s latest list of the best public high schools in the country. A total of 30 Pennsylvania schools made the2016 list, which ranked the 500 best high schools in the country.

Conestoga High School was ranked 36th out of 500, up from being ranked 51st in 2015.

Several other schools in the Philadelphia area made the list, including Radnor High School, New Hope-Solebury, Lower Moreland High School and all three Central Bucks School District high schools.

Here's a look at all of the Pennsylvania high schools that made Newsweek's list and their ranking:

(36) Conestoga High School, Berwyn

(49) Unionville High School, Kennett Square

(58) Downingtown STEM Academy, Downingtown

(106) Radnor High School, Radnor

(113) Upper St. Clair High School, Pittsburgh

(126) Kiski Area High School, Vandergrift

(168) Fox Chapel Area High School, Pittsburgh

(169) New Hope-Solebury High School, New Hope

(196) Lower Moreland High School, Huntingdon Valley

(209) Great Valley High School, Malvern

(213) Franklin Regional Senior High School, Murrysville

(262) Central Bucks High School South, Warrington

(269) Central Bucks High School West, Doylestown

(271) Quaker Valley High School, Leetsdale

(275) Council Rock High School South, Holland

(276) Penncrest High School, Media

(278) West Chester Bayard Rustin High School, West Chester

(290) Abington Heights HS, Clarks Summit

(293) West Chester Henderson High School, West Chester

(294) Haverford High School, Havertown

(306) Spring-Ford Area High School, Royersford

(317) South Fayette High School, Mcdonald

(330) Upper Dublin High School, Fort Washington

(355) West Chester East High School, West Chester

(367) Wyomissing Area Jr./Sr. High School, Wyomissing

(419) Cumberland Valley High School, Mechanicsburg

(439) Souderton Area High School, Souderton

(457) York Suburban High School, York

(478) Central Bucks High School-East, Doylestown

(498) Manheim Township High School, Lancaster

The school rankings are borne of legitimate research. Newsweek, along with the analytics firm Westat, uses legitimate and objective measurements to put together its annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to come up with a “college readiness index.” The rankings are meant to show how well high schools do at preparing students for college.

Those measurements and their weight are:

• 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. Newsweek used school performance data from the National Center for Education Statistics to narrow down the list of schools.

See the full list here.