Four Washington state high schools have been ranked among the top 150 high schools in the country according to US News & World Report.
For 2017, the magazine ranked eight western Washington schools as gold medal winners. Statewide, 31 high schools were awarded silver medals, and 57 with bronze.
The top gold ranked schools in Washington are:
1) Tesla STEM High School – Lake Washington School District
2) International School – Bellevue School District
3) International Community School – Lake Washington School District
4) Aviation High School – Highline School District
5) Newport Senior High School – Bellevue School District
6) Roosevelt High School – Seattle Public Schools
7) Mercer Island High School – Mercer Island School District
8) Orcas Island High School – Orcas Island School District
Eric Webb, superintendent for Orcas Island School District, said that their gold level award shows that smaller rural schools can achieve educational success with limited resources. Webb credits the success to the school's focus on education for all grades and not on barriers.
U.S. News & World Report teamed with RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm, to calculate their annual results through a four-step process.
The group began ranking high schools nationally. The first three steps guaranteed that all students were served well, by analyzing how proficient their math and reading test scores are and graduation rates. The schools that passed the first three steps then proceeded to the final step, which assessed which schools best prepare students for college-level work.
