Here are the top CMS high schools in 2021, according to a national ranking site
Ardrey Kell ranked No. 1 among Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools’ 33 high schools on U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best High Schools List released early Tuesday.
Providence High ranked second in the district, followed by Northwest School of the Arts, Hough High and Myers Park High, according to the list.
Ardrey Kell ranked fifth on the list overall among high schools in the Charlotte region.
Highland School of Technology in Gaston County was tops in the region, followed by Lake Norman Charter in Huntersville, and Central Academy of Technology and Arts and Marvin Ridge High, both in the Union County Public Schools.
Ardrey Kell had an overall score of 96.71 out of 100, ranking the school 15th in North Carolina and 587th nationally.
The list cited Ardrey Kell’s 75% student participation rate in Advanced Placement courses and exams. The school has a 44% minority enrollment, according to the list, with 9% of its students economically disadvantaged.
Providence High scored 96.24, Northwest School of the Arts 94.56, Hough High 90.07 and Myers Park 88.08.
About 21% of N.C. high schools ranked in the top 25% nationally, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported. That was good for 27th place among all states.
College readiness accounts for 30% of a school’s ranking, i.e., “the percentage of 12th graders from the class of 2018-19 who took at least one AP or IB (International Baccalaureate) exam,” according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings website.
The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on nearly 24,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Of those, nearly 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.
The rankings also factor in reading and math proficiency and performance, college curriculum breadth, performance by underserved students and high school graduation rates.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 1:04 PM.