US News and World Report collected data on 28,561 public schools to develop their top ranked school list. Whitney High School is ranked #1 in California and #19 in the nation based upon their statistical calculation, which consists of four phases.
First, student reading and math scores on state exams must indicate that they are performing better than statistically expected for that state. If this is proven, a school moves to the second phase of the process. During this phase, the school’s African American, Hispanic, and low-income student group scores have shown that they outperform others throughout the state. Phase three, graduation rate, is new to the US News & World Report’s ranking system this year. Schools that make the list have proven a high rate of students who are awarded high school diplomas. The final phase includes a College Readiness Index and is based upon the number of students who have taken and passed an AP or IB exam before or during their senior year. Specifically, the number of 12th grade students in the 2013-14 academic year who took and passed at least one AP or IB test before they graduated, divided by the number of 12th graders.