Schools

Riverview in Top 50, Plum Unranked on U.S. News and World Report's 'Best Schools' List

U.S. News and World Report's 2013 annual high school rankings are out. Get the results.

Riverview High School is ranked among the top 50 high schools in Pennsylvania while Plum Senior High School is unranked, according to the U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings of America's best high schools.

The annual list released Tuesday ranks Riverview at No. 45 among Pennsylvania's 687 high schools and 1,438th out of more than 21,000 public high schools nationwide. Schools are evaluated based on overall student performance on state tests, Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate exam.

Plum was unranked in the magazine's listing. 

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Other Allegheny County Schools that ranked in the top 15 included the Mt. Lebanon and Upper Saint Clair school districts. The top high school in Pennsylvania is Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia. 

Schools are evaluated based on overall student performance on state tests, Advanced Placement tests and International Baccalaureate exams; rankings also take into account how well students educate black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students, according to a release from U.S. News

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The rankings are designed to capture how well high schools educate all of their students and prepare them for college-level work, the magazine said.

Rankings are based on several factors: college readiness, math and reading proficiency, and student-to-teacher ratio.

When it comes to math and reading, the data shows Riverview scored 2.6 out of 5 for math proficiency and 3.1 for reading based on student Pennsylvania System of School Assessment results. Plum scored 2.7 in math and 3.1 in reading proficiency.

Riverview has a ratio of 12 students and Plum has 15 to every one teacher. Riverview's "college readiness" index is 25.3 and Plum's is 19.5 out of a possible 100, which is based on Advanced Placement exam participation rates and percentages of students passing at least one exam. Riverview's AP participation rate is 35 percent, while Plum's is 22 percent. 

Once all factors were considered, U.S. News also designated the 4,805 highest-scoring schools as gold, silver or bronze; the top 500 schools received gold medals and the next 1,790 received silver. 

Riverview received a silver medal.

 

Top 15 Pennsylvania high schools, based on U.S. News rankings:

1. Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, Philadelphia

7. Upper St. Clair High School, Pittsburgh

8. Radnor High School, Radnor

9. Lower Moreland High School, Huntingdon Valley

10. Unionville High School, Kennett Square 

11. Mt. Lebanon High School, Pittsburgh

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