Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools 2016: 4 Tennessee Schools Make List

NASHVILLE, TN — Newsweek released its list of the best public high schools in the country Thursday morning.

The top school from Tennessee was Ravenwood High in Brentwood at No. 87. Nashville's Hume-Fogg Academic High wasn't far behind at No. 96.

Shawn Joseph, Metro Nashville director of schools, says Hume-Fogg's recognition is just a start for the district.

"It's always nice to see the rest of the country recognizing what we know here in Nashville. Hume-Fogg is unlike many other schools in Nashville in that it has academic entrance requirements and focuses on academically advanced students. But it is indicative of a greater truth: There is excellence everywhere in our district. Hume-Fogg is a bright spot in Nashville, and we look forward to the day when we have more and more schools on this list," he said.

Brentwood High also performed well, ranking at No. 162.

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 and 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's the Tennessee schools among Newsweek's Top High Schools 2016:

87. Ravenwood High School, Brentwood

96. Hume-Fogg Academic High School, Nashville

162. Brentwood High School, Brentwood

219. Farragut High School, Knoxville

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 Tennessee schools among those that "Beat the Odds:"

79. Hume-Fogg Academic High School, Nashville

210. Cumberland County High School, Crossville

230. Westmoreland High School, Westmoreland

316. Dobyns-Bennett High School, Kingsport

338. Maryville High School, Maryville

368. Marion County High School, Jasper

406. Bearden High School, Knoxville

426. L&N STEM Academy, Knoxville

437. Scotts Hill High School, Reagan

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.

Includes reporting by Marc Torrence