Eastside High Schools Ranked Among State's Best In 2022: U.S. News

WASHINGTON — The Eastside is home to half of Washington's top 20 high schools, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings, which evaluates schools nationally and within states, metro areas and districts.

This year’s list of best high schools ranked more than 17,800 schools nationwide, including hundreds in the Evergreen State. Redmond's Tesla STEM High School and Bellevue's International School made the national list, ranking 12th and 59th respectively, while a host of others earned top marks on the state level.

Here are Washington's top 20 high schools in 2022, according to U.S. News and World Report:

  1. Tesla STEM High School (Lake Washington School District).

  2. International School (Bellevue School District).

  3. Raisbeck Aviation High School (Highline School District).

  4. Newport Senior High School (Bellevue School District).

  5. Bellevue High School (Bellevue School District).

  6. Mercer Island High School (Mercer Island School District).

  7. Interlake Senior High School (Bellevue School District).

  8. General William H. Harrison Preparatory School (Clover Park School District).

  9. Bainbridge High School (Bainbridge Island School District).

  10. Vancouver School of Arts and Academics (Vancouver School District).

  11. Issaquah High School (Issaquah School District).

  12. Garfield High School (Seattle Public Schools).

  13. Roosevelt High School (Seattle Public Schools).

  14. Redmond High School (Lake Washington School District).

  15. Eastlake High School (Lake Washington School District).

  16. Ballard High School (Seattle Public Schools).

  17. Orcas Island High School (Orcas Island School District).

  18. Bridgeport High School (Bridgeport School District).

  19. Vashon Island High School (Vashon Island School District).

  20. Lake Washington High School (Lake Washington School District).

The 2022 ranking of best high schools is intended to show how well the nation’s public schools serve all students, regardless of achievement level, by teaching them basic skills and preparing them for college-level work, according to a news release from U.S. News.

Families can also use the rankings to see how schools compare at the national, state and local levels on factors such as graduation rates and college readiness.

This year, the top 15 schools nationally are in 14 different states.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, was ranked No. 1 in the nation, as well as among magnet schools.

Here are the top 10 schools in this year’s national Best High Schools ranking:

  1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology - Alexandria, Virginia

  2. Academic Magnet High School - North Charleston, South Carolina

  3. Signature School - Evansville, Indiana

  4. School for Advanced Studies - Miami, Florida

  5. Payton College Preparatory High School - Chicago, Illinois

  6. The Davidson Academy of Nevada - Reno, Nevada

  7. Central Magnet School - Murfreesboro, Tennessee

  8. The School for the Talented and Gifted - Dallas, Texas

  9. Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology - Lawrenceville, Georgia

  10. Julia R. Masterman Secondary School - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This year’s schools were ranked on six measures: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment performance, state assessment proficiency, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates.

The data used in this year’s ranking is from the 2019-20 academic school year. U.S. News adjusted its calculation of these measures to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year.

Since most states closed schools for in-person instruction starting in March 2020 — typically just before most states conduct assessments — the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers allowing all states to forgo state testing for the 2019-20 school year.

To account for this, U.S. News relied on past assessment data from the
three prior ranking years. Researchers also incorporated state science assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.

In addition to the national rankings, U.S. News also published rankings at the state, metro area and school district levels. Only metro areas and school districts with three or more high schools were included in these subrankings.

Signature School in Indiana is at the top of the list for charter schools, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia is the No. 1 magnet school. The Davidson Academy of Nevada is the top STEM school.

This article originally appeared on the Redmond Patch