Newsweek's Top U.S. High Schools: 6 in Long Beach

Long Beach Unified can now boast that it has six of the best high schools in the country, according to Newsweek magazine's annual rankings released Monday morning.

According to Newsweek and the school district, the yearly list ranks America's best 2,000 public high schools. Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) spokesman Chris Eftychiou said, in part:

"This year's rankings highlight the best 2,000 public high schools in
the nation, those that are the most effective at turning out
college-ready graduates. With about 22,000 public high schools in the
United States, the schools that appear on the latest rankings have
surpassed at least 91 percent of high schools nationwide."

According to Newsweek and LBUSD, the rankings are made using six weighted components: graduation rate,college acceptance rate, Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Advance International Certificate of Education tests taken per student, average SAT/ACT scores, average AP/IB/AICE scores, and percent of students enrolled in at least one AP/IB/AICE course.

The six schools that earned Newsweek's Best in America ranking, in the order within LBUSD, and then position in the national list:

1. -618 California Academy of Mathematics and Science
2. 1,552 Renaissance High School for the Arts
3. 1,645  Polytechnic High School
4. 1,848 Lakewood High School
5. 1,888 Wilson Classical High School
6. 1,940 Millikan High School

The district's Eftychiou noted that in April, seven LBUSD schools made the Washington Post's list of
America's "Most Challenging High Schools, which was based on some different criteria, while four schools here earned a place on
similar rankings by U.S. News and World Report. The Los Angeles Times also maintains California Schools Guide with all sorts of performance data.

View the latest Newsweek rankings at its partner website,
www.thedailybeast.com