Area schools shine in latest rankings
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Area schools shine in latest rankings
Area high schools fared quite well in the latest rankings of “best high schools” by U.S. News and World Report.
Mount Ayr Community High School is ranked 50th among Iowa’s 319 high schools that appear in the latest ranking. Nationally, Mount Ayr ranked at No. 5,786 among 17,245.
In 40th place, Murray High School carried the highest ranking in the state. Nationally, Murray sits at No. 4,951.
Bedford High School was ranked 48th in the state and No. 5,705 nationally.
The publication examined over 23,000 high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
To be eligible to appear in this year’s ranking, high schools were required to have graduating class sizes of 15 or greater in the 2016-2017 school year.
As a result of this criteria, both Diagonal High School and Lamoni High School do not appear in this year’s ranking. Of Iowa’s 328 high schools, only seven others were deemed ineligible.
Of the remaining 17,245 high schools nationally, U.S. News researchers gathered performance data from federal, state and private sources to arrive at its list of the 12,245 “best” high schools.
Examination criteria include college readiness, math and reading proficiency, under-served population performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rate.
The top ten high schools in Iowa include Ames, Iowa City West, Decorah, Gilbert, Ankeny Centennial. Pleasant Valley, Adel-DeSoto-Minburn, Williamsburg, Johnston and Ankeny.
Iowa ranked 45th in the number of top high schools in the nation. Of the state’s 319 high schools, none appeared in the top 5 percent, seven were among the top 10 percent, with 32 in the top 25 percent nationally.
Among neighboring states, Wisconsin ranked 14th in the number of top schools. Other states ranked as follows: Illinois – 26th, Missouri – 32nd, Minnesota – 34th, Kansas – 38th, Nebraska – 50th, South Dakota – 51st.
Massachusetts led the nation with 48.8 percent of all high schools appearing among the top quarter of the highest ranked high schools in the nation.
Ranking of Top Area High Schools
from U.S. News & World Report
State rank National rank
out of 319 out of 17,245
Murray 40 4,951
Bedford 48 5,705
Mount Ayr 50 5,786
Mormon Trail 82 7,716
Wayne 109 9,248
Creston 130 9,996
Lenox 139 10,331
Southeast Warren 140 10,356
Central Decatur 155 10,824
Winterset 161 11,145
Nodaway Valley 214 12,840
(Schools in the lower third of state ranking were not given individual ranks. Instead, they were assigned a blanket rank of 216-319 in the state and 12,935-17,245 in the nation. Area schools falling into this category include Clarke, Corning, East Union, Interstate 35, Martensdale-
St. Marys and Orient-Macksburg.)
