Best Florida High Schools 2018: U.S. News & World Report

Thirty-six Florida high schools are rated among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2018 high school rankings. The highest-rated school in Florida was Pine View High School in Osprey (Sarasota County).

The 2018 best high school rankings were released on Wednesday and evaluate more than 20,500 public high schools. U.S. News identified schools that best serve all students and assessed how prepared students are for college-level work. Schools are also recognized with gold, silver and bronze medals with gold indicating the greatest level of college readiness.

The 36 Florida high schools that ranked high nationally received a gold medal, 135 schools got a silver medal and 68 schools got a bronze medal.

"Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students," Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a press release.

Here's the state's gold medal schools and where they ranked nationally, according to the 2018 rankings:

Gold Medal Schools

Pine View School, Osprey, No. 19

Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami, No. 25

International Studies Charter High School, Miami, No. 26

Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville, No. 28

Archimedean Upper Conservatory Charter School, Miami, No. 47

Suncoast Community High School, Riviera Beach, No. 61

International Studies Preparatory Academy, Coral Gables, No. 62

Westshore Junior/Senior High School, Melbourne, No. 70

Edgewood Jr/Sr High School, Merritt Island, No. 71

Young Women's Preparatory Academy, Miami, No. 73

Alexander W. Dreyfoos Junior School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, No. 80

Jose Marti Mast 6-12 Academy, West Palm Beach, No. 85

MAST Academy, Key Biscayne, No. 89

Doral Performing Arts and Entertainment Academy, Doral, No. 115

Paxon School/Advanced Studies, Jacksonville, No. 120

iPrep Academy, Miami, No. 128

New World School of the Arts, Miami, No. 149

Doral Academy Charter High School, Doral, No. 167

Pompano Beach High School, Pompano Beach, No. 189

Darnell Cookman Middle/High School, Jacksonville, No. 190

Coral Reef Senior High School, Miami, No. 196

Somerset Arts Conservatory, Pembroke Pines, No. 218

Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, No. 226

Ponte Vedra High School, Ponte Vedra, No. 244

Orlando Science Middle High Charter, Orlando, No. 269

Terra Environmental Research Institute, Miami, No 299

Creekside High School, St. Johns, No. 317

Cypress Bay High School, Weston, No. 335

Plant High School, Tampa, No. 343

Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High School, Cocoa Beach, No. 377

Mater Academy Charter High, Hialeah Gardens, No. 415

Robinson High School, Tampa, No. 463

Newsome High School, Lithia, No. 466

Osceola County School of Arts, Kissimmee, No. 467

Winter Park High, Winter Park, No. 480

M.A.S.T. Academy at Homestead, Homestead, No. 494

To determine the rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the social science research firm RTI International. A variety of data sources, including the Common Core of Data, College Board and the International Baccalaureate, were used.

A four-step process was used to rank all eligible schools. The first two steps were to determine whether students were performing better than statistically expected in the state and whether minority students were performing at or better than the state average for minority students, which was the second step. The third step required schools to meet or surpass a certain graduation benchmark and the final step was to determine college readiness. (You can read the full methodology here.)

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