Best High Schools Breakdown: Who Gets Gold, Silver and Bronze

The public schools honored among the U.S. News Best High Schools educate all of their students well, not just those who are likely to head to college.

U.S. News reviewed more than 28,000 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the 2016 Best High Schools rankings. Out of those schools, 19,908 had enough data from the 2013-2014 school year to be considered in the rankings.

To earn a gold, silver or bronze medal from U.S. News, schools must pass a four-step evaluation, which looks at students' performance on required state tests, their graduation rates and their college readiness.

[Learn more about how U.S. News calculated the Best High Schools rankings.]

Gold medal schools are those whose students demonstrate the highest level of college readiness, based on students' Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate participation rate and the proportion of students who do well on those exams. The top 17 nationally ranked gold medal schools achieved the highest possible score for college readiness -- 100.

The state of Maryland has the largest percentage of schools with gold medals. California has the most gold medal schools.

The top-ranked schools serve a diverse group of students across a variety of communities. The types of institutions also vary. Only 15.3 percent of schools with gold, silver or bronze medals are either charter or magnet schools. About 38 percent of medaled schools are in rural areas.

Students in poverty made up at least 25 percent of the total enrollment in about three-fourths of all medaled schools. And at more than a third of schools, at least 25 percent of the student body is black or Hispanic.

Stay up to date with the U.S. News High School Notes blog.

Briana Boyington is an education Web producer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at bboyington@usnews.com.