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North Alabama schools made their presence known in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of the nation’s best public high schools, with eight area schools landing among Alabama’s top 20.
Leading the way is Huntsville’s New Century Tech High School, which claimed the No. 1 spot in Alabama. Huntsville City Schools congratulated the school on its ranking in a social media post.
The Huntsville City Schools magnet school focuses on advanced studies, technology and industry experience. It has an enrollment of 366 students in grades 9-12 and received a college readiness score of 72.7 in the U.S. News rankings.
New Century’s showing extended well beyond the state rankings. The school placed No. 131 nationally among nearly 18,000 public high schools receiving numerical rankings from U.S. News.
And Alabama had more success on the national list. New Century was one of 10 schools in the state to finish among the nation’s top 1,000.
Back home, North Alabama schools filled several of the highest spots on the Alabama list.
James Clemens High School in Madison came in at No. 9, followed by Arab High School at No. 10. Huntsville High School was No. 11, while Bob Jones High School in Madison ranked No. 13.
Cullman High School ranked No. 17, Madison County High School in Gurley was No. 18 and Hartselle High School came in at No. 19.
Together with New Century, that gives North Alabama eight of the state’s top 20 schools.
The region’s presence continued farther down the list. Plainview School in Rainsville ranked No. 25, followed by Huntsville’s Virgil Grissom High School at No. 28.
Athens High School came in at No. 43, while Muscle Shoals High School ranked No. 53.
Several more North Alabama schools appeared between Nos. 60 and 80:
U.S. News included data on more than 27,000 public high schools across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 18,000 received numerical rankings.
Schools are judged on six measures, including college readiness, state assessment results, graduation rates and the performance of underserved students. College readiness carries the most weight at 30% and considers both AP or IB participation among 12th-graders and the percentage who earn qualifying exam scores.
State assessment proficiency and performance each account for 20%, while college curriculum breadth, underserved student performance and graduation rate each account for 10%.
New Century may have claimed Alabama’s top spot, but the rankings show North Alabama’s success was hardly limited to one school.
Sherri Blevins is a reporter for 256 Today.
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