Schools Ranked by The Washington Post, The Daily Beast

The Early College at Guilford earned recognition among the nation's best 100 high schools according to new rankings released by The Washington Post and The Daily Beast. The school earned the number one ranking among North Carolina high schools in both publications. The Washington Post ranked The Early College at Guilford at 46th, and The Daily Beast ranked the school 17th in the nation.

Penn-Griffin School for the Arts, which was ranked for the first time by The Washington Post and the second time by The Daily Beast, also found itself near the top. It ranked within the top 10 schools in North Carolina in both rankings, coming in at 149th and 298th, respectively in the national rankings. Weaver Academy was also ranked among the top 10 schools in North Carolina in both publications.

A total of 16 Guilford County schools (GCS) were included in The Washington Post's High School Challenge , which uses the Challenge Index to rank high schools. This formula is a measure of the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB) or college-level exams given in a school divided by the number of graduating seniors. The annual list includes only schools that have an index of at least 1.000, which means students within a school took as many placement exams in a year as the school had graduates. About 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 public high schools in the United States made the list.

Six GCS schools were included in the America's Best High Schools list by The Daily Beast. The list included the 1,000 best public high schools in the nation based on graduation rate (25 percent), college matriculation rate (25 percent), AP, IB and college-level exams taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP, IB and college-level exam scores (10 percent), and AP courses offered per student (5 percent).

"To have six of our high schools ranked among the top 1,000 high schools in the country in one list and to have 16 included in the other list is outstanding and is a reflection of the district's ongoing commitment to academic excellence," said Dr. Beth Folger, chief academic officer. "I look forward to continued progress and applaud the hard work of our administrators, staff and students who have earned this recognition."

The Daily Beast America's Best High Schools:

Washington Post High School Challenge