ICYMI: 10 Florida Schools Among Newsweek's Best

TAMPA, FL — Newsweek released its list of the best public high schools in the country Thursday morning. Ten Florida schools made the grade.

While there are several different school rankings published, particularly as school bells are dusted off in late summer, Newsweek consistently stands out as a college-prep barometer. Its rankings are routinely promoted by schools and school districts that perform well, and coveted by those that don't.

Newsweek's school rankings are borne of the magazine's research, along with the analytics firm Westat. They use objective measurements to put together the annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

Here are the Florida rankings among Newsweek's Top High Schools 2016:

6. Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville

55. St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, St Petersburg

110. Clark Advanced Learning Center, Stuart

191. Allen D. Nease High School, Ponte Vedra

241. MAST Academy, Key Biscayne

283. A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach

322. Lawton Chiles High School, Tallahassee

406. Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami

451. Fort Myers High School, Fort Myers

477. North Fort Myers High School, North Fort Myers

See the complete list at Newsweek.

So, how do they come up with the rankings?

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to come up with a “college readiness index.” The rankings are meant to show how well high schools do at preparing students for college.

Those measurements and their weight are:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

Newsweek used school performance data from the National Center for Education Statistics to narrow down the list of schools.

Of those 6,477 schools, 4,760 were considered for the overall rankings, while 4,452 made the cut for another list of schools that were “beating the odds.” (Many schools made both lists.)

For the the “beating the odds” rankings, a school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools that had similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Here are the Florida schools among those that "Beat the Odds:"

33. Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville

53. St. Petersburg Collegiate High School, St Petersburg

55. International Studies Charter High School, Miami

72. Mater Academy Charter High, Hialeah Gardens

75. Somerset Academy Charter High School, Homestead

84. Clark Advanced Learning Center, Stuart

110. Mater Performing Arts Academy, Hialeah Gardens

114. Mater Lakes Academy, Hialeah

128. Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami

135. MAST Academy, Key Biscayne

143. Westland Hialeah Senior High, Hialeah

154. INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PREPARATORY ACADEMY, Coral Gables

195. Pinecrest Preparatory Middle-High / Miami Dade County, Miami

202. Medical Academy for Science and Technology Senior High, Homestead

203. DORAL ACADEMY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL, Doral

207. Fort Myers High School, Fort Myers

213. A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach

227. G Holmes Braddock SHS, Miami

231. DORAL PERFORMING ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ACADEMY, Doral

232. Miami Lakes Educational Center, Miami Lakes

239. North FOrt Myers High School, North Fort Myers

250. TERRA Environmental Research Institute, Miami

284. Hialeah Gardens High School, Hialeah Gardens

297. Crooms Academy of Information Technology, Sanford

305. Fort Lauderdale High School, Fort Lauderdale

449. Cocoa Beach Jr Sr High School, Cocoa Beach

469. Southwest Miami High School, Miami

See the complete list at Newsweek.

Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va., took the top spot again in 2016 for a third year in a row. The school has been a regular powerhouse on previous best schools rankings and puts an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes.

“We’re preparing kids to go into fields that have yet to be invented,” Principal Evan Glazer told Newsweek last year. “We’re really focusing more on skills and an appreciation for STEM. But if they decide to become journalists, we convey that they have a unique knowledge base in STEM. They would be able to contribute to articles on energy, the environment, and government policy on those important issues.”

You can view last year’s 2015 rankings here.