For the third year in a row, City High has been named by The Daily Beast as one of the best high schools in the country, ranking 3rd in the state, and 304th nationally. This is a significant jump from last year’s 997th place ranking, which City High principal John Bacon attributes to increased participation in AP classes.

“The credit goes to our students always,” Bacon said. “Students are the ones that earn that ranking. I also give credit to the staff who always work very hard to provide for students those opportunities to be successful.”

High Schools were ranked based on a combination of SAT/ACT scores, graduation rate, percentage of students who go to college, AP program participation, and the percentage of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch.

“In my opinion, in many ways there are certain things you just can’t measure in a competition,” Bacon said. “But that being said, The Newsweek Daily Beast ranking system does ask us to report key statistics… So I do think that this is a very meaningful, valuable ranking.”

For more information, check out the Daily Beast’s feature about the Nation’s Top High Schools:

www.thedailybeast.com/features/2014/america-s-top-high-schools.html