Table of Contents
The yearly rankings of America’s best high schools are out and Winchester has placed 23rd among the 351 Massachusetts schools to make the U.S. News & World Report list.
Winchester High School comes in 610 in the national standings, which ranked 17,660 schools across 50 states and the District of Columbia. The school also comes in 20th in best Boston, Mass. metro area high schools and 39th in best STEM high schools.
The top five in Massachusetts are the following: #1 Boston Latin School in Boston, #2 Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, Lexington High School in Lexington, Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlborough and Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis.
The best high school in the country ranked #1 is BASIS Peoria in Peoria, Ariz.
The U.S. News Best High Schools report ranked schools based “on their performance on state-required tests, graduation and how well they prepare students for college.”
For the 2024 rankings, U.S. News & World Report used data from the Common Core of Data on the U.S. Department of Education website; Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (or a state’s equivalent) math, reading and science assessment scores, as well as a state’s high school graduation rates; College Board provided Advanced Placement examination data; and International Baccalaureate was the source of the IB examination.
All 2024 rankings were based on data from the 2021-2022 academic school year.
U.S. News & World Report ranks schools based on six criteria: College Readiness (30%), College Curriculum Breadth (10%), State Assessment Proficiency (20%), State Assessment Performance (20%), Underserved Student Performance (10%) and Graduation Rates (10%).
The criteria are defined as follows:
• College Readiness — based on a qualifying score on the AP or IB exams.
• College Curriculum Breadth — based on students who earned full college credit for qualifying scores on the AP or IB exams.
• State Assessment Proficiency — based on Massachusetts (or home state of student) standardized testing measuring “student proficiency” in math, reading and science.
• State Assessment Performance — based on Massachusetts (or home state of student) assessment scores, but are compared to what “U.S. News predicted for a school with its demographic characteristics in its state.”
• Underserved Student Performance — measures learning outcomes only among Black, Hispanic and low-income students.
• Graduation Rate — students who enter ninth grade in an academic year and the proportion of those students who graduate four years later.
How does Winchester stack up?
Overall, Winchester’s total score based on the ranking criteria is 96.55 out of 100 points. Scores show students have the opportunity to take AP classes and take AP exams. The AP participation rate for 2021-22 was 59%, with 54% passing at least one AP exam.
Winchester students are proficient in math, reading and science with scores of 84% in math, 89% in reading and 83% in science. The graduation rate in Winchester is 97%.
The total minority enrollment is 31%.
For the full Winchester breakdown statewide and nationally, click here.
Winchester News is a non-profit organization supported by our community. If you appreciate having local Winchester news, please donate to support our work, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
