U.S. News Names PHS as 'Gold Medal' School

Piedmont High School was ranked 26th in California and 148th nationally in a report released May 8 by U.S. News that ranks the nation's public high schools by how well they prepare students for college-level work. The ranking qualifies PHS for the company's Gold Medal designation, awarded to the top 500 U.S. public high schools.

The 2012 rankings, available only online, include data on nearly 22,000 public high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to U.S. News. (Nebraska did not report enough data to be included in the rankings.)

According to the company website, "U.S. News partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), which implemented U.S. News's rankings methodology. To determine the Best High Schools national rankings, schools were first analyzed at the state level in terms of how well students in each school performed on state assessments, taking into account the test scores of disadvantaged students (low-income, Hispanic, and black), who tend to score lower on tests.

"High schools that made it through this analysis were then eligible to be ranked nationally, in terms of college readiness. U.S. News determines the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work by analyzing student success in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, both of which include college-level courses."