Seven Arizona public high schools made the Top 500 Gold Medal list in the 2012 Best High Schools rankings by U.S. News and World Report.
Two Arizona schools were in the Top 10 — University High, a Tucson Unified School District magnet school that ranked fourth, and BASIS Tucson, a charter school ranked sixth. BASIS Tucson was also rated the best charter school in the nation.
A number of area high schools, including two in Ahwatukee Foothills, received silver medals and were ranked nationally: Mesa High (1,995), Red Mountain (1,967), Corona del Sol (1,875), Highland (1,840), Chandler (1,818), Perry (1,760), Desert Vista (1,652), Horizon Community Learning Center (1,423), Basha (1,410), Hamilton (1,023), and Mountain View (978).
Tempe Preparatory Academy, a charter school often considered one of the best in Arizona, earned an unranked bronze medal.
The report also ranked public schools in each state. In ninth place, Mesa’s Mountain View High School was the only East Valley school to rank in Arizona’s Top 10.
School for the Talented and Gifted in Dallas was rated the nation’s best public high school.
U.S. News partnered with American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., to rank the nation’s public high schools based on state assessments (taking into account the scores of low-income and minority students), and an analysis of student success in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.
To view the full report, visit http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools online.
