WASHINGTON, May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S.News & World Report, the leading source of education rankings and news, today released the 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings at www.usnews.com/best-high-schools. With comprehensive profiles on nearly 22,000 public high schools and rankings of the nation's 4,877 highest-scoring schools, this will be one of the most extensive analyses and national rankings of U.S. public high schools ever published.

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The 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools, available exclusively online, includes school-specific data on enrollment, location, ethnicity, school type, state assessment proficiency tests, and Advanced Placement® and International Baccalaureate tests. Using some of this data and a comprehensive methodology, the schools were given a college readiness index score and then numerically ranked and awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Along with the national rankings, U.S. News also released statewide rankings, as well as the nation's Best Charter Schools and Best Magnet Schools, in addition to the previously published Most Connected Classrooms and Best High Schools for Math and Science.

"Students and parents know how important it is to be well prepared for college," said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S.News & World Report. "The 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings will help identify which public schools, both nationally and statewide, will best prepare a student to excel at the collegiate level."

To produce the 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools, U.S. News teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world. AIR implemented U.S. News' comprehensive rankings methodology, which reflects how well high schools serve all of their students, not just those who are planning to go to college.

The methodology to determine the nation's best public high schools is comprised of three steps. The first two steps ensure that the schools serve all their students well, by using the state proficiency standards as the measuring benchmark. For schools that make it past the first two steps, a third is used to assess "college readiness," or the degree to which schools prepare their students in both participation in and passing of college-level coursework using the Advanced Placement® or International Baccalaureate tests as the standard. For more information on the methodology and rankings, go to www.usnews.com/highschoolmeth.

The 2012 U.S. News Best High Schools is sponsored by Dell. Dell is committed to helping students develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world. To find out more information about the Best High Schools, visit www.usnews.com/best-high-schools or find us on Facebook or Twitter. If you have a media-specific question, please review our media FAQ.

About U.S.News & World Report
U.S.News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Personal Finance, Education, Travel, Cars, and Public Service/Opinion, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. U.S.News & World Report's signature franchise includes its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its annual "Best" series of consumer web guides and publications that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans, and more.

SOURCE U.S.News & World Report