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Santa Monica High earns silver medal on high school ranking

Santa Monica High placed 105th nationally on the annual high school ranking list. Photo courtesy of SMMUSD.
Santa Monica High placed 105th statewide on the annual high school ranking list. Photo courtesy of SMMUSD.

The U.S. News and World Report released its annual list of high school rankings this week, and Santa Monica High School was ranked 606th nationally, earning a silver medal.

Within California, Santa Monica ranked 105th. The list reports that Santa Monica High has a college readiness index of 58.2. 63 percent of students took Advanced Placement classes and there was a passing rate of 79 percent.

The list ranks the best public high schools in the country on a national and state level. Schools are listed based on their performance on state-required exams and how well their students are prepared for college. More than 28,000 high schools’ data are analyzed, but 6,041 schools were actually ranked.

In California this year, 85 high schools were rewarded with gold medals, 416 received silver medals, and 154 earned bronze.

To be ranked, high schools had to pass a four-step process that analyzed whether students performed better than expected for students in the same state, evaluated whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for disadvantaged students, gauged whether the graduation rate was 75 percent or greater, and determined a college readiness index depending on the number of AP tests taken and passed.

Schools ultimately had to pass the first three steps of the process and have a college readiness index of at least 20.91.

The 2017 list ranked Pacific Collegiate Charter School in Santa Cruz as the best high school in the state. Oxford Academy in Cypress and Gretchen Whitney High School in Cerritos followed.

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