Malibu High School Ranked No. 176 In CA: U.S. News

MALIBU, CA — Malibu High School is the No. 176 best high school school in California, according to a new statewide ranking by U.S. News and World Report. This year's list of best high schools evaluated more than 17,800 schools nationwide, including 1,603 in the Golden State.

The 2022 ranking of best high schools is intended to show how well the nation's public schools serve all students, regardless of achievement level, by teaching them basic skills and preparing them for college-level work, according to a news release from U.S. News.

Families can also use the rankings to see how schools compare at the national, state and local levels on factors such as graduation rates and college readiness.

Two Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District high schools were ranked among California's best. Malibu High School landed at No. 176 and Santa Monica High School ranked at No. 108.

This puts both schools in the top six percent of public schools in the nation, according to Gail Pinsker, community and public relations officer for SMMUSD.

“This recognition by a highly respected publication illustrates that our stellar teachers, staff and leaders are truly supporting and preparing our students for college and career,” SMMUSD Superintendent Ben Drati said in a news release. “We congratulate each school site team and our students for their hard work, dedication and forward-thinking.”

While thousands of schools were evaluated, 10 California schools were ranked among the top 100 nationally, according to U.S. News:

1. Whitney High School, Cerritos (No. 14 nationally)
2. California Academy of Mathematics and Science, Carson (No. 15 nationally)
3. Oxford Academy, Cypress (No. 16 nationally)
4. Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy, Wilmington (No. 62 nationally)
5. Preuss School UCSD, La Jolla (No. 71 nationally)
6. Lowell High School, San Francisco (No. 82 nationally)
7. University High School, Fresno (No. 92 nationally)
8. Mission San Jose High School, Fremont (No. 94 nationally)
9. Dr. T.J. Owens Gilroy Early College Academy, Gilroy (No. 95 nationally)
10. Riverside Stem Academy, Riverside (No. 100 nationally)

You can search the full list here. No California schools made the top ten national ranking.

This year's schools were ranked on six measures: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment performance, state assessment proficiency, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates.

The data used in this year's ranking is from the 2019-20 academic school year. U.S. News adjusted its calculation of these measures to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year.

Since most states closed schools for in-person instruction starting in March 2020 — typically just before most states conduct assessments — the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers allowing all states to forgo state testing for the 2019-20 school year.

To account for this, U.S. News relied on past assessment data from the three prior ranking years. Researchers also incorporated state science assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.