Lassiter, Sprayberry Get U.S. News Rankings

Earlier this week Patch told you about the good marks for Lassiter and other East Cobb-area high schools as among the "most challenging" in the country.

To illustrate how subjective these criteria are, we give you the latest high school rankings from U.S. News. While Lassiter High School fares well again -- it's considered the 7th-best in Georgia and No. 343 in the nation -- other "most challenging" schools in the area didn't make the list at all.

One of those schools was Kell High School in Northeast Cobb. Sprayberry High School made both lists, coming in at No. 22 in Georgia and No. 1,343 in the country.

Here's the real head-scratcher, though: Walton and Pope were unranked even in Georgia. Wheeler was ranked No. 17 (and No. 906 nationally) and also was on the "most challenging" list.

U.S. News ranked nearly 3,000 high schools nationwide. Eligible schools were considered for national medalist designations based on student success in Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs.

We provide these numbers while acknowledging the vast disparity between two sets of rankings, and that were released within the same week. Which leads us to ask the following question:

Do you take much stock in these rankings? What makes a good high school, and can that be quantified? Tell us in the comment box below.