U.S. News: 5 Kane High Schools Among Best in State
St. Charles North High School is the best in Kane County and No. 22 in the state of Illinois, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 rankings.
In fact, five Kane County high schools made U.S. News’ list of top 100 in the state. They include Hinckley-Big Rock, Batavia, Geneva and for the first time in the past three years, Dundee-Crown in Carpentersville.
Hinckley-Big Rock moved up to the second spot in Kane County and 48th in the state this year. HBR was at No. 60 a year ago.
Batavia also made a big move up the list, going from 93rd last year to 63rd in the state this year.
Geneva moved up from 69th last year to 65th this year.
Dundee-Crown High School made the top 100 in Illinois for the first time in the past three years. Dundee-Crown was ranked 82nd this year and was unranked the previous two years.
Unlike some other high school rankings, U.S. News seems to have a lot of fluctuation year over year. For example, St. Charles East was ranked 47th in the state last year and 42nd in 2015 — but was unranked in this year’s scorecard.
Central High School in Burlington School District 101 was also unranked this year after finishing 92nd in Illinois a year ago.
No. 22 — St Charles North High School
St Charles, IL |St Charles CUSD 303
#22 in Illinois, #897 in National Rankings
St Charles North High School is ranked 22nd within Illinois. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at St Charles North High School is 54 percent. The student body makeup is 51 percent male and 49 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 14 percent. St Charles North High School is one of two high schools in the St Charles CUSD 303.
No. 48 — Hinckley-Big Rock High School
Hinckley, IL | Hinckley Big Rock CUSD 429
#48 in Illinois Rankings #1475 in National Rankings
Hinckley-Big Rock High School is ranked 48th within Illinois. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Hinckley-Big Rock High School is 46 percent. The student body makeup is 54 percent male and 46 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 10 percent. Hinckley-Big Rock High School is the only high school in the Hinckley Big Rock CUSD 429.
No. 63 — Batavia Sr High School
Batavia, IL | Batavia Usd 101
Batavia Sr. High School is ranked 63rd within Illinois. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Batavia Sr High School is 34 percent. The student body makeup is 51 percent male and 49 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 17 percent. Batavia Sr. High School is the only high school in the Batavia Usd 101.
No. 65 — Geneva Community High School
Geneva, IL | Geneva CUSD 304
Geneva Community High School is ranked 65th within Illinois. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Geneva Community High School is 30 percent. The student body makeup is 51 percent male and 49 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 13 percent. Geneva Community High School is the only high school in the Geneva CUSD 304.
No. 82 — Dundee-Crown High School
Carpentersville, IL | Cusd 300
Dundee-Crown High School is ranked 82nd within Illinois. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® course work and exams. The AP® participation rate at Dundee-Crown High School is 24 percent. The student body makeup is 49 percent male and 51 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 64 percent. Dundee-Crown High School is one of three high schools in the Cusd 300.
How U.S. News Makes the Rankings
To produce the 2017 Best High Schools rankings, U.S. News & World Report teamed with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm.
RTI implemented the U.S. News comprehensive rankings methodology, which is based on these key principles: that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show it is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.
U.S. News reviewed 28,496 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
National rankings were based on a four-step process:
• Step 1: The first step determined whether each school’s students were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state.
• Step 2: For schools passing the first step, Step 2 assessed whether their disadvantaged students – black, Hispanic and low-income – performed at or better than the state average for the least-advantaged students.
• Step 3: For schools passing the first and second step, Step 3 required schools to meet or surpass a benchmark for their graduation rate. This is the second year U.S. News has included this step.
• Step 4: Schools that made it through the first three steps became eligible to be judged nationally on the final step – college-readiness performance – using Advanced Placement test data as the benchmark for success. AP is a College Board program that offers college-level courses at high schools across the country.
SOURCE: USNews.com
