Columbia's A.C. Flora High School is the highest-ranked public high school in the Midlands, according to Newsweek magazine's 2010 ranking of the nation's best high schools.
COLUMBIA (WACH) -- Four Columbia-area high schools are on the 2010 Newsweek magazine list of America’s Best High Schools. The magazine compiles an annual ranking of the top public high schools in the nation based on a combination of course offerings and student performance.
Newsweek surveyed more than 27,000 high schools across the nation. Selected schools represent the nation’s top six percent of public high schools, according to the magazine. This year’s rankings include the names of 1,622 public high schools.
Columbia's A.C. Flora High School is the highest-rated public high school in the Midlands at 386 on the list.
Dutch Fork High School in Irmo finished second in the Midlands as the nation's 504th best high school, according to the Newsweek ranking.
Irmo High School ranked 918 and Richland Northeast High School ranked 1,383.
The state’s top-rated high school in the 2010 Newsweek ranking is Charleston County’s Academic Magnet High at number 12 nationally.
A press release by the state Dept. of Education said Newsweek’s formula ranks schools according to a ratio that looks at the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and similar college-credit tests taken by all students at the school and then divides that by the number of graduating seniors from the previous year.
Newsweek selected a total of 16 South Carolina schools for its 2010 list, down from 22 schools chosen in 2009.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWACH