Tennessee's Best High Schools 2017: U.S. News

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 national and state levels.

In Tennessee, Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro earned the title of the best high school in the state. Overall, the school ranked as the 37th best high school in the country.

Hume Fogg Magnet High School in Nashville ranked second best in the state, followed by Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, also in Nashville.

In comparison with other states, Tennessee came in 37th as far as preparing students for college, with 7.3 percent of the state’s schools receiving silver or gold medals; U.S. News assigned schools medals for their college readiness, based on Advanced Placement participation, graduation rates and state test scores.

There were seven schools in Tennessee given gold medals by U.S. News, while 19 received silver medals and 98 received bronze medals.

Best Schools In Tennessee And U.S.

The top high 10 schools in Tennessee are as follows, according to U.S. News:

1. Central Magnet School, Murfreesboro (National Rank: 37)
2. Hume Fogg Magnet High School, Nashville (National Rank: 58)
3. Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, Nashville (National Rank: 121)
4. Merrol Hyde Magnet School, Hendersonville (National Rank: 179)
5. Brentwood High School, Brentwood (National Rank: 290)
6. Ravenwood High School, Brentwood (National Rank: 454)
7. Chatt High Center for Creative Arts, Chattanooga (National Rank: 468)
8. Franklin High School, Franklin (National Rank: 816)
9. Farragut High School, Knoxville (National Rank: 925)
10. University School, Johnson City (National Rank: 1,104)

Click here to see the full list.

The top high schools in the country are as follows, according to U.S. News:

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

How The Rankings Were Determined

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.

—By Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney

Image via Shutterstock.