Lincoln Park High Ranks Among Best Schools

Lincoln Park High School joins several other North Side schools on a list detailing the best schools, not only in the state, but the country, according to annual rankings published Tuesday by U.S. News and World Report.

Four Chicago Public Schools made the top four high schools in Illinois. Further down the list—in the No. 11 spot—is Lincoln Park High School. The study says there are 107 high schools in the CPS system.

READ: Four CPS Schools Top U.S. News' Illinois High School Rankings

"Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement course work and exams," the description of LPHS says. "The AP participation rate at Lincoln Park High School is 68 percent. The student body makeup is 45 percent male and 55 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 74 percent."

Northside College Prep continued its 13-year reign as the No. 1 high school in the state. It also climbed to No. 33 in the nation, according to the magazine's survey. 

Walter Payton College Prep, Jones College Prep and Whitney M. Young Magnet School grabbed the other top spots on the list. Three of the schools also made it into the list of the top 100 high schools in the entire country. Lane Tech College Prep, in Northcenter, is the No. 14 best school in the state.

The 2013 U.S. News and World Report Best High Schools rankings are based on data collected from more than 21,000 public U.S. high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia. The rankings are designed to capture how well high schools educate all of their students and prepare them for college-level work, a press release from U.S. News said.

Schools are evaluated based on overall student performance on state assessments, Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate exams. The ranking also takes into account how well schools educate black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students, according to U.S. News. 

Once the college readiness factor was computed, U.S. News designated the 4,805 highest-scoring schools as gold, silver or bronze; the top 500 schools received gold medals and the next 1,790 received silver.

Lincoln Park High School

• State Rank: 11
• National Rank: 309
• Medal Awarded: Gold
• College Readiness Index (based on AP/IB participation, max value is 100): 53.6 
• Student-Teacher Ratio: 18:1 (near Illinois average)

See the full 2013 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings
Learn how U.S. News calculated the Best High Schools rankings