Sweetwater Schools Rated Among Top U.S. High Schools

All 12 of the Sweetwater Union High School District's comprehensive high schools were named Silver Medal winners in the U.S. News and World Report's rankings of the best high schools in America released Tuesday.

Among more than 21,000 high schools ranked in 49 states, gold medals were given to schools ranked in the top 500 and silver medals were given to schools ranked between No. 501 and No. 2,290, or in the top 10 percent of American schools.

California led the nation with 28 percent of schools winning gold or silver medals, the magazine reported.

Highest among San Diego County schools, The Preuss School in La Jolla ranked No. 4 in California and No. 30 nationwide.

Highest ranked among Sweetwater Union High School District schools is Eastlake High School ranked No. 136 among California schools and No. 713 nationwide.

Southwest High School ranked No. 182 among California schools and No. 886 nationwide.

Mar Vista High School ranked No. 220 among California schools and No. 1040 nationwide. Last year Mar Vista ranked No. 172 in California and No. 886 in the U.S.

"It’s an incredible honor to be ranked among the best schools in the nation," said School Board President Jim Cartmill in a statement. "On a daily basis, students, teachers, administrators and the entire staff work very hard to ensure that students in the Sweetwater District are getting the best education possible."

The rankings was put together with the help of the behavioral and social science organization American Institute for Research and take into account standardized test scores, the performance of minority and economically disadvantaged students and the number of students determined ready for college.

Mar Vista scored 32.1 on the ranking's College Readiness Index (CRI).

The CRI calculates the number of 12th graders in the 2010-11 school year who took at least one AP test before or during their senior year divided by the total number of 12th graders, the magazine said.

Mar Vista High School did not meet Academic Performance Index (API) goals in the 2011-12 school year, according to the California Department of Education.

See U.S. News and World Report to search schools rankings, hear who made the top 10 list and more about how the ranking is put together.