Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools 2016: Maine South Named to List's Top 100

UPDATED (9:35 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 11): Maine South High School made Newsweek's list of best public schools in the country, ranking No. 73.

Maine South owes its ranking to its 100 graduation rate and a college bound rate of 95.9. The school also was ranked No. 253 on the magazine's "beating the odds" list, which compares schools with similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Although it didn't make the list of best schools, Maine East High School also was named to the magazine's "beating the odds." It was No. 356 in that ranking.

Overall, 24 public high schools from Illinois made the list. Chicago's Northside College Preparatory High School was the highest-ranked school from the state at No. 8. Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology from Alexandria, VA, was the top-rated school in the country out of 500 on the list.

Here's a look at the other nearby schools that made the list:

• New Trier High School, Winnetka (No. 17)
• Lake Forest High School, Lake Forest (No. 37)
• Glenbrook South High School, Glenview (No. 103)
• Crystal Lake Central High School, Crystal Lake (No. 138)
• Barrington High School, Barrington (No. 156)
• William Fremd High School, Palatine (No. 176)
• Deerfield High School, Deerfield (No. 249)
• Grayslake North High School, Grayslake (No. 424)
• Grayslake Central High School, Grayslake (No. 449)

Go to Newsweek's website for the complete list.

ORIGINAL STORY

Newsweek’s list of the best public high schools in the country will be revealed Thursday morning—and it’s one you’ll want to pay attention to if you care about local school quality and want to know where Illinois schools rank.

We know you see a lot of lists: 10 Most Redneck Towns; 20 Least-Affordable States; Fattest Counties in the United States; Best Cities for People with 2 Kids, 1 Dog but No Cats.

Newsweek’s rankings of the best public high schools in the country stand apart. The school rankings are borne of legitimate research. Newsweek uses legitimate and objective measurements to put together its annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

And just in time for the start of school, Newsweek is releasing 2016’s list later Thursday morning.

Last year, three Chicago high schools and six suburban schools made the top 100 in Newsweek's 2015 rankings. Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago ranked the highest in Illinois for 2015. The highest-ranking suburban school was New Trier Township High School in Winnetka. Maine South was ranked at No. 380, and Maine East did not make the list.

Will there be changes in the rankings? Newcomers to the upper echelon? Check back with Patch later this morning for the full national and statewide lists as soon as they are released.

So, how did Newsweek come up with the rankings?

RELATED: These Suburban High Schools Among Best in Nation

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achieve a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how well high schools prepare students for college.

Those measurements and their weight are:

• 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.

Newsweek used school performance data from the National Center for Education Statistics to narrow the list of schools.

Of those 6,477 schools, 4,760 were considered for the overall rankings, while 4,452 made the cut for another list of schools “beating the odds.” (Many schools made both lists.)

For the “beating the odds” rankings, a 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.

Patch also will post a list of schools “beating the odds.”

Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, took the top spot in last year’s overall rankings for the second year in a row. New Jersey had six of the top 10 public high schools in the country.

Thomas Jefferson has been a regular powerhouse on previous best schools rankings and puts an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes.

“We’re preparing kids to go into fields that have yet to be invented,” Principal Evan Glazer told Newsweek last year. “We’re really focusing more on skills and an appreciation for STEM. But if they decide to become journalists, we convey that they have a unique knowledge base in STEM. They would be able to contribute to articles on energy, the environment, and government policy on those important issues.”

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