Best Austin-Area High Schools 2018: U.S. News & World Report

AUSTIN, TX - Seventy-three 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 Texas was Meridian School in Round Rock that ranked sixth nationally.

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.

A total of 10 Austin-area schools received a gold medal. The 73 Texas high schools that ranked high nationally received a gold medal, 155 schools got a silver medal and 373 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 in the Austin area and where they ranked nationally, according to the 2018 rankings:

Meridian School, Round Rock, No. 6

Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA), Austin, No. 16

Chaparral Star Academy, Austin, No. 23

KIPP Austin Collegiate, Austin, No. 53

Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Austin, No. 117

Westlake High School, Austin, No. 213

Westwood High School, Austin, No. 221

Vandegrift High School, Austin, No. 339

Harmony School of Excellence, Austin, No. 374

Harmony Science Academy North Austin, Austin, No. 400

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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