Tuesday, 30 April 2019 / Published in Blog, Clearwater, General, Important, Local, News, South Tampa, St Petersburg, Tampa Bay

US News Best High Schools 2019: Tampa Bay High School Rankings

Plant High School, 2415 S. Himes Ave., Tampa, is among the best high schools in America, U.S. News & World Report said Tuesday in its most comprehensive ranking yet of the nation’s high schools. More than 17,000 schools are ranked, an increase from 2,700 last year.

Plant High School ranked #582 in the National Rankings and #36 among Florida schools in the 2019 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings.

Schools are ranked on their performance on state-required tests, graduation and how well they prepare students for college. Read more about U.S News & World Report ranks the Best High Schools.

The publication reported that 84 percent of students at Plant High School take Advanced Placement coursework and exams. The total minority enrollment is 33 percent, and 20 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. With an enrollment of 2,359, Plant High School is 1 of 64 high schools in Hillsborough County.

Land O’ Lakes High School, 20325 Gator Lane, Land O’ Lakes was ranked #141 in Magnet High Schools nationally, #1,023 nationally for high schools and #54 in Florida.

Brooks Debartolo Collegiate High School, 10948 N. Central Ave., Tampa, earned a national ranking of #188 for charter schools, #1,044 in the overall national ranking and #59 in Florida.

Other Tampa Bay schools that made the list are:

Steinbrenner High School, 5575 W. Lutz Lake Fern Road, Lutz

#832 in National Rankings
#43 in Florida High Schools

Newsome High School, 16550 Fishhawk Blvd, Lithia

#874 in National Rankings
#46 in Florida High Schools

Sickles High School, 7950 Gunn Highway, Tampa

#1,022 in National Rankings
#53 in Florida High Schools

Robinson High School, 6311 S. Lois Ave., Tampa

East Lake High School, 1300 Silver Eagle Drive, Tarpon Springs

Tampa Bay Tech High School, 6410 Orient Road, Tampa

St. Petersburg High School, 2501 5th Ave. N., St Petersburg

Palm Harbor University High, 1900 Omaha St., Palm Harbor

Osceola Fundamental High, 9751 98th St., Seminole

Strawberry Crest High School, 4691 Gallagher Road, Dover

James W. Mitchell High School, 2323 Little Road, Trinity

#1,919 in National Rankings
#103 in Florida High Schools

Middleton High School, 4801 N. 22nd St., Tampa

Bloomingdale High School, 1700 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico

#2,268 in National Rankings
#127 in Florida High Schools

King High School, 6815 N. 56th St., Tampa

Alonso High School, 8302 Montague St., Tampa

#2,442 in National Rankings
#133 in Florida High Schools

St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, 6605 5th Ave. N., St Petersburg

Wiregrass Ranch High School, 2909 Mansfield Blvd., Wesley Chapel

#2,651 in National Rankings
#142 in Florida High Schools

Sunlake High School, 3023 Sunlake Blvd., Land O Lakes

#2,754 in National Rankings
#145 in Florida High Schools

Riverview High School, 11311 Boyette Road, Riverview

#3,006 in National Rankings
#155 in Florida High Schools

Tarpon Springs High School, 1411 Gulf Road, Tarpon Springs

Wesley Chapel High School, 30651 Wells Road, Wesley Chapel

#3,757 in National Rankings
#186 in Florida High Schools

River Ridge High School, 11646 Town Center Road, New Port Richey

#4,039 in National Rankings
#195 in Florida High Schools

Hillsborough High School, 5000 N. Central Ave., Tampa

Gulf High School, 5355 School Road, New Port Richey

Gaither High School, 16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa

#4,428 in National Rankings
#209 in Florida High Schools

Blake High School, 1701 N. Boulevard, Tampa

Durant High School, 4748 Cougar Path, Plant City

#4,800 in National Rankings
#221 in Florida High Schools

Wharton High School, 20150 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa

#4,925 in National Rankings
#226 in Florida High Schools

Jefferson High School, 4401 W. Cypress St., Tampa

Plant City High School, 1 Raider Place, Plant City

#5,280 in National Rankings
#244 in Florida High Schools

Brandon High School, 1101 Victoria St., Brandon

#5,686 in National Rankings
#260 in Florida High Schools

Largo High School, 410 Missouri Ave. N., Largo

Lakewood High School, 1400 54th Ave. S., St Petersburg

Lennard High School, 2002 E. Shell Point Road, Ruskin

Countryside High School, 3000 State Road 580, Clearwater

Freedom High School, 17410 Commerce Park Blvd., Tampa

#6,997 in National Rankings
#301 in Florida High Schools

Northeast High School, 5500 16th St. N., St Petersburg

Pasco Eschool-Virtual Franchise, 15144 Shady Hills Road, Spring Hill

#7,259 in National Rankings
#308 in Florida High Schools

Hudson High School, 14410 Cobra Way, Hudson

#7,445 in National Rankings
#316 in Florida High Schools

Zephyrhills High School, 6335 12th St, Zephyrhills

#7,756 in National Rankings
#323 in Florida High Schools

Armwood High School, 12000 E. U.S. 92, Seffner

Leto High School, 4409 W. Sligh Ave., Tampa

Gibbs High School, 850 34th St. S., St Petersburg

Anclote High School, 1540 Sweetbriar Drive, Holiday

#8,404 in National Rankings
#348 in Florida High Schools

Pinellas Park High School, 6305 118th Ave., Largo

Hillsborough Virtual School, 2704 N. Highland Ave., Tampa

#8,941 in National Rankings
#364 in Florida High Schools

Pasco High School, 36850 State Road 52, Dade City

#8,944 in National Rankings
#365 in Florida High Schools

Seminole High School, 8401 131st St., Seminole

Spoto High School, 8538 Eagle Palm Drive, Riverview

#9,408 in National Rankings
#376 in Florida High Schools

Fivay High School, 12115 Chicago Ave., Hudson

#9,580 in National Rankings
#383 in Florida High Schools

Bell Creek Academy High School, 13221 Boyette Road, Riverview

East Bay High School, 7710 Old Big Bend Road, Gibsonton

#9,673 in National Rankings
#390 in Florida High Schools

Dixie M. Hollins High School, 4940 62nd St. N., Kenneth City

Dunedin High School, 1651 Pinehurst Road, Dunedin

Clearwater High School, 540 S Hercules Ave., Clearwater

Chamberlain High School, 9401 N. Boulevard, Tampa

#11,722 in National Rankings
#441 in Florida High Schools

Ridgewood High School,7650 Orchid Lake Road, New Port Richey

#12,294 in National Rankings
#455 in Florida High Schools

Pinellas Virtual K-12, 301 4th St. S.W., Largo

#12,935-17,245 in National Rankings
#468-555 in Florida High Schools

Overall, Florida’s schools graduate 95.4 percent of students.
U.S. News & World Report is the gold standard for education rankings and is widely considered the global authority. Anita Narayan, managing editor of education at U.S. News, said the aim of the rankings is to give families more information about the schools in their district.

“By evaluating more schools than ever before, the new edition expands that focus so all communities can see which schools in their area are successfully serving their students — including historically underserved populations,” Narayan said in a news release.

The factors considered in compiling the list include college readiness; reading and math proficiency; reading and math performance; underserved student performance; college curriculum breadth; and graduation rates. College readiness measures participation and performance on advanced placement and international baccalaureate exams.

The data also take into account school enrollment, student diversity, participation in free and reduced-price meal programs, graduation rates and the results of state assessment tests. U.S. News worked with the global research firm RTI International to rank the schools.

“We enhanced the methodology to provide an even more comprehensive ranking that is easier to understand and, therefore, more useful to parents and educators,” Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News, said in a news release. “Now, each school’s score correlates to its national percentile — a school with a score of 70 is in the 70th percentile and ranks higher than 70 percent of schools. Going forward, this methodology will allow for intuitive comparisons of a school’s performance year after year.”

The top 10 schools are in 10 different states, demonstrating that a high-quality education can be found across the country, the report said. Those schools are:

Academic Magnet High School, South Carolina
Maine School of Science and Mathematics
BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia
Central Magnet School, Tennessee
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, Georgia
Haas Hall Academy, Arkansas
International Academy of Macomb, Michigan
Payton College Preparatory High School, Illinois
Signature School, Indiana

Several of those schools also were included among rankings for specialized schools.
The top five schools nationally for an education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM schools, are:

High Technology High School, New Jersey
BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona
BASIS Peoria, Arizona
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Georgia
The Early College at Guilford, North Carolina

Charter and magnet schools performed well in the rankings, U.S. News said. Within the top 5 percent of ranked schools, a third are either charter or magnet. In the national rankings, more than 18 percent are charter schools, and 15 percent are magnet schools.
Arizona had three of the top five charter high schools in the country. They are:

BASIS Scottsdale, Arizona
Haas Hall Academy, Arkansas
Signature Academy, Indiana
BASIS Chandler, Arizona
BASIS Peoria, Arizona

The top five magnet high schools are:

Academic Magnet High School, South Carolina
Maine School of Science and Mathematics
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia
Central Magnet School, Tennessee
International Academy of Macomb, Michigan

In the state-by-state performance, based on the number of high schools in the top 25 percent of national rankings, Massachusetts was the leader. This year, nearly half — 48.8 percent — of the commonwealth’s high schools were ranked in the top 25 percent of high schools. Maryland was second with 43.7 percent, followed by California, with 40 percent, and Connecticut, with 39.8 percent in the top 25 percent of schools ranked nationally.

Overall, only seven states had more than a third of their schools in the top 25 percent, and 20 states had 25 percent or more of their schools in the top 25 percent.

On the other end of the spectrum, 22 states had fewer than 20 percent of their high schools in the top 25 percent, and seven had fewer than 10 percent of schools in the top tier. South Dakota’s schools finished at the bottom of the list since it was the only state that didn’t give U.S. News permission to use advanced placement data in the rankings. Even so, 1.9 percent of South Dakota’s schools finished in the top 25 percent of rankings.

The full list is available exclusively on usnews.com.