Best Schools: How Mountain Brook Ranked In 2022 Niche List

MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL — The latest school rankings released by the data analysis company Niche offer a look at how K-12 schools in Alabama compare with each other. Mountain Brook Schools ranked as the third best school system in the state.

Niche, which released its eighth annual version of the rankings on Monday, looks at a variety of criteria in determining a grade for both public and private K-12 schools in Alabama, including academics, teachers and diversity.

Here are how the school systems in Alabama fared in the rankings:

1. Homewood City Schools
2. Madison City Schools
3. Mountain Brook City Schools
4. Vestavia Hills City Schools
5. Hoover City Schools
6. Auburn City Schools
7. Trussville City Schools
8. Hartselle City Schools
9. Saraland City Schools
10. Muscle Shoals City Schools

Individually, schools in Mountain Brook also ranked highly in the Niche rankings.

• Mountain Brook High School: No. 2 in Best Public Schools in Alabama
• Mountain Brook Junior High: No. 7 in Best Public Middle Schools in Alabama
• Mountain Brook Elementary: No. 23 in Best Public Elementary Schools in Alabama
• Brookwood Forest Elementary: No. 28 in Best Public Elementary Schools in Alabama
• Cherokee Bend School: No. 29 in Best Public Elementary Schools in Alabama
• Crestline Elementary School: No. 33 in Best Public Elementary Schools in Alabama

Niche said its 2022 best schools rankings offer a more “personal” view of schools than its rankings in recent years. Significantly less importance was placed on SAT and ACT scores this year, Niche said. Any factor in its methodology that is related to test scores was reduced by one third.

The company combined ratings from students, alumni and parents with quantitative data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources to evaluate teachers, resources, facility, extracurricular activity opportunities and other factors. Read more about the methodology here.

Across the country, Niche ranked 94,491 public schools, 2,489 private schools and 11,846 school districts to come up with its lists and rankings.

Top 5 Public High Schools:

1. The Davidson Academy in Reno, Nevada
2. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
3. Massachusetts Academy for Math & Science School
4. Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Virginia
5. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Virginia

Top 5 Private High Schools:

1. Phillips Academy in Massachusetts
2. The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut
3. Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut
4. The College Preparatory School in California
5. Groton School in Massachusetts

Top 5 School Districts:

1. Adlai E. Stevenson High School District in Illinois
2. Glenbrook High School District in Illinois
3. Great Neck Public Schools in New York
4. Community High School District 128 in Illinois
5. Jericho Union Free School District in New York

See the full Niche rankings here