New: Top 25 Most Challenging Public and Private Illinois High Schools

Seventy-five high schools in Illinois rank among the nation’s most challenging, according to the Washington Post.

The Washington Post’s annual ranking assesses nearly 2,300 high schools across the U.S. based on a formula it calls the “Challenge Index” ratio, which is calculated by taking the total number of advanced placement, international baccalaureate and advanced international certificate of education tests administered at a given school in 2015 and dividing by the number of seniors who graduated that same year.

A ratio of at least 1.00 means a school had as many tests in 2015 as graduates, but only 10 percent of the roughly 22,000 public high schools in the U.S. reached that standard and earned a spot on the list, according to the Washington Post.

Here are the Top 25 most challenging high schools in Illinois, along with each school’s national rank, the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career — referred to as equity and excellence (E&E), the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for subsidized lunch and the Challenge Index ratio.

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