A southwestern Illinois public high school ranked among the top 15% in St. Louis metro

Meredith Howard
·4 min read
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Mascoutah High School was recently named in the top 15% of the more than 150 schools in the St. Louis metro area by U.S. News & World Report. The institution was the highest-performing Illinois school in the metro area ranking.

U.S. News & World Report recently released its 2023 Best High Schools rankings, including comparisons specific to Illinois, Missouri, the St. Louis metro area and more.

In the St. Louis metro area ranking, the publication compared 169 public high schools, including nine Illinois institutions placing in the top 50. Public high schools in O’Fallon, Waterloo and Freeburg were among the southwestern Illinois institutions to rank among the 50 best.

Here’s how the top 50 public high schools in the St. Louis metro area performed, according to the U.S. News & World Report:

  1. Metro Academic and Classical High School (St. Louis)

  2. Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience (St. Louis)

  3. Ladue Horton Watkins High School (St. Louis)

  4. Clayton High School (Clayton, Mo.)

  5. Kirkwood Senior High School (Kirkwood, Mo.)

  6. Lafayette Senior High School (Wildwood, Mo.)

  7. Parkway West High School (Ballwin, Mo.)

  8. Marquette Senior High School (Chesterfield, Mo.)

  9. Central High School (Chesterfield, Mo.)

  10. Ft. Zumwalt South High School (St. Peters, Mo.)

  11. Ft. Zumwalt West High School (O’Fallon, Mo.)

  12. McKinley Classical Leadership Academy (St. Louis)

  13. Maplewood-Richmond Heights High School (Maplewood, Mo.)

  14. Francis Howell High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  15. Rockwood Summit Senior High School (Fenton, Mo.)

  16. Lindbergh Senior High School (St. Louis)

  17. Eureka Senior High School (Eureka, Mo.)

  18. Parkway South High School (Manchester, Mo.)

  19. Ft. Zumwalt East High School (St. Peters, Mo.)

  20. Webster Groves High School (Webster Groves, Mo.)

  21. Francis Howell Central High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  22. Francis Howell North High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  23. Mascoutah High School (Mascoutah, Ill.)

  24. Orchard Farm Senior High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  25. Liberty High School (Lake St. Louis, Mo.)

  26. Washington High School (Washington, Mo.)

  27. Ft. Zumwalt North High School (O’Fallon, Mo.)

  28. Pattonville Senior High School (Maryland Heights, Mo.)

  29. O’Fallon Township High School (O’Fallon, Ill.)

  30. North High School (St. Louis)

  31. Highland High School (Highland, Ill.)

  32. Valley Park Senior High School (Valley Park, Mo.)

  33. Columbia High School (Columbia, Ill.)

  34. Freeburg Community High School (Freeburg, Ill.)

  35. Triad High School (Troy, Ill.)

  36. Carlinville High School (Carlinville, Ill.)

  37. St. Charles High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  38. Elsberry High School (Elsberry, Mo.)

  39. Timberland High School (Wentzville, Mo.)

  40. Edwardsville High School (Edwardsville, Ill.)

  41. Waterloo High School (Waterloo, Ill.)

  42. St. Charles West High School (St. Charles, Mo.)

  43. Emil E. Holt Senior High School (Wentzville, Mo.)

  44. Bayless Senior High School (St. Louis)

  45. STEAM Academy at McCluer South-Berkeley High (Ferguson, Mo.)

  46. Brentwood High School (Brentwood, Mo.)

  47. Hancock Senior High School (St. Louis)

  48. Sullivan Senior High School (Sullivan, Mo.)

  49. Troy Buchanan High School (Troy, Mo.)

  50. University City Senior High School (University City, Mo.)

How were the schools ranked?

The U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings used the following methodology, according to the publication’s website:

  • College readiness: measured by the proportion of a school’s seniors who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one Advanced Placement test or International Baccalaureate exam (30% of overall rank)

  • College curriculum breadth: This metric is based on the proportion of a school’s seniors who took and earned qualifying scores in multiple AP or IB exams (10%)

  • State assessment proficiency: Measures student performance on Illinois standardized tests for reading, math and science (20%)

  • State assessment performance: This category is similar to the state assessment proficiency, but specifically compares total assessment scores to the scores U.S. News predicted for a school in Illinois with the same demographics (20%)

  • Underserved student performance: This assesses learning outcomes among “Black, Hispanic and low-income” students compared to average performance for students who are not in these demographics (10%)

  • Graduation rate: Evaluates the four-year graduation rate for students who entered ninth grade in the 2017 to 2018 school year (10%)

More ways to compare Illinois schools

In addition to the U.S. News & World Report ranking, those interested in how public schools in Illinois compare can also check out rankings from data website Niche and the Illinois Report Card.

In its 2023 Best Public High Schools ranking, Niche named O’Fallon Township High School, Mascoutah High School, Belleville High School West, Belleville High School East and Freeburg Community High School the best in St. Clair County.

Niche rankings consider reviews and data sources including the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core Data, Civil Rights Data Collection and others.

The Illinois State Board of Education releases Illinois Report Card data each year as well, and compares school performance on metrics including graduation rates, student mobility, retention and more. You can search the Illinois Report Card database online for information about metro-east schools.