Hinsdale Central Returns to Newsweek's Top High Schools List

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale Central High School has earned a favorable place among the top high schools in America, according to the 2016 ranking by Newsweek.

The school was ranked No. 34 in the country this year.

Hinsdale Central did not appear at all on the 2015 or the 2014 lists. In 2013, Hinsdale Central ranked No. 144.

Northside College Preparatory High School in Chicago landed in the top spot for Illinois schools, with a No. 8 rank nationally.

• Click here to read about how other Illinois schools ranked on Newsweek's list.

The top school in America for 2016, according to Newsweek, is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.

Hinsdale Central High School was also recognized on Newsweek's “beating the odds” list with a No. 102 spot.

Newsweek used six factors to create its top schools list, weighing each measurement to create a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how prepared students are for college by the time they leave high school.
Those measurements and their weight include:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

For "beating the odds," each school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools with similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.