RUHS Makes Washington Post's List

rose 64 spots in the Washington Post's annual ranking of the nation's high schools, from a rank of No. 622 in 2011 to No. 558 in 2012.

Released in mid-May, the Washington Post's High School Challenge measures schools based on the number of college-level tests—including Advanced Placement tests—given at a school in 2011 divided by the number of graduates that year. In addition, the newspaper considered the proportion of students who qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, a measure the Post calls "equity and excellence."

According to the Post, 43.5 percent of Redondo Union students passed at least one college-level test during their high school career, while 16 percent of students qualify for subsidized lunch.

The high school, which has more than 2,000 students, offers 16 AP tests in subjects such as chemistry, statistics, macroeconomics, studio art, U.S. history, English literature, calculus and psychology. The school's average ACT score is 24, while the average SAT score is 1598.

Fifty-one percent of graduates attend four-year colleges after graduation.

Redondo Union still lags behind high schools in neighboring school districts. ranked No. 545; ranked No. 531; and ranked No. 217. Nevertheless, Redondo Union beat out three of Torrance's high schools—Torrance High School (No. 1610), North High School (No. 1380) and West High School (No. 1566).

South High School was not listed in the Post's ranking.