Michigan High School Ranked In Top 10 In Nation: U.S. News

Three Michigan high schools were ranked in the top 100 nationwide by U.S. News & World Report in its 2018 edition of best high schools, and the International Academy of Macomb, located in Clinton Township, was ranked the top magnet school in the nation. Magnet high schools are public high schools that typically attract the most talented students in a region using an application process that usually involves test scores and grade-point averages, according to U.S. News. The International Academy of Macomb was officially designated as an International Baccalaureate World School in December 2009 and has approximately 500 students.

In national rankings issued annually by the company, the International Academy of Macomb, part of Chippewa Valley Schools in Clinton Township, ranked seventh in the Top 10; the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills, which is run by Oakland Schools, ranked 30th overall; and Washtenaw International High School in Ypsilanti, operated by the the Washtenaw Educational Options Consortium, ranked 41st.

The 2018 best high school rankings were released on Wednesday and evaluate over 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.

Seven Michigan schools were rated Gold Medal schools, 95 were Silver Medal schools and 52 were Bronze Medal schools.

No Michigan schools made the Top 10 list for Best STEM High Schools. Grand River Preparatory High School ranked 77th nationally among charter schools evaluated by U.S. News.

“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 a look at Michigan’s Gold schools:

• Chippewa Valley Schools, Clinton Township
• Oakland Schools, Bloomfield Hills
• Washtenaw ISD, Ypsilanti
• Grand River Preparatory High School, Grand Rapids
• Rochester Community High School, Rochester Hills
• Troy School District, Troy
• Frankenmuth School District, Frankenmuth

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 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.)

The top 10 high schools in the U.S. overall are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale (AZ)
2. BASIS Chandler (AZ)
3. BASIS Oro Valley (AZ)
4. BASIS Tucson North (AZ)
5. BASIS Flagstaff (AZ)
6. Meridian School (TX)
7. International Academy of Macomb (MI)
8. BASIS Peoria (AZ)
9. Baccalaureate School for Global Education (NY)
10. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)

Click here to see the full rankings and for more insight on the data.

Image via Shutterstock