Mountain View-Los Altos High School District Ranked 3rd In State By Niche.com

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- As the 2017-18 school year kicks off, parents and students heading to their first day of school can see how their Mountain View-area school districts stack up against others in Santa Clara County and the state of California as Niche.com has released its annual rankings of best schools and school districts in the country.

The 2018 rankings released this month rank elementary, middle and high schools as well as school districts.
According to Niche's rankings, Palo Alto Unified School District in Palo Alto is the best school district among 474 districts in the state of California. With an overall Niche grade of A+, the district received a grade of A+ in academics, A+ in teachers, A in clubs and activities, A+ in college prep and a C+ in health and safety. In the category of diversity, Niche awarded the school district an A-.

The No. 2 and 3 spots for Niche's best school districts in the state went to two neighboring Santa Clara County districts, Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District and Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, respectively.

Niche gave Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District an overall grade of A+. The district earned A+ grades in academics, teachers and college prep; A grades in diversity and clubs and activities; and a B- in health and safety, according to Niche.

To arrive at these rankings, Niche looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data and ratings collected from Niche users. The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.

According to Niche, these are the eight best school districts in Santa Clara County:

1. Palo Alto Unified School District, Palo Alto (Overall Niche grade of A+)
2. Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, Los Gatos (Overall Niche grade of A+)
3. Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, Mountain View (Overall Niche grade of A+)
4. Fremont Union High School District, Sunnyvale (Overall Niche grade of A+)
5. San Jose Unified School District, San Jose (Overall Niche grade of B+)
6. Santa Clara Unified School District, Santa Clara (Overall Niche grade of B)
7. Campbell Union High School District, San Jose (Overall Niche grade of B)
8. Milpitas Unified School District, Milpitas (Overall Niche grade of B)

Niche’s data for its K-12 school district rankings comes from various sources including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection. The rankings also rely on data that is self-reported by Niche users and schools. (Click here to learn more about where Niche’s data comes from.)

• ALSO SEE: Los Altos School Calendar 2017-18: First Day Of School, Vacations, Conferences
  

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

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