Virginia School Tops the Best High Schools List

For the second consecutive year, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., tops U.S.News & World Report's list of America's Best High Schools. The school, which focuses heavily on math and science education, bested more than 21,000 other public high schools in 48 states for the honor.

Of the 21,069 public high schools examined by U.S. News and its partner in the project, School Evaluation Services, 1,925 were recognized for considerably outperforming their state's standards. In that group, there were 604 schools that also were found to be doing an excellent job of preparing students for college-level coursework. California leads the nation this year with 209 high schools that earned recognition, followed by Texas (151 schools), New York (105 schools), Ohio (87 schools), Michigan (74 schools), and Illinois (71 schools). Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the District of Columbia did not have sufficient information for their high schools to participate fully in the analysis, which involves a three-step process that examines how well a school serves its entire student body (average students, disadvantaged students, and collegebound students). This is the second year U.S. News has ranked high schools.

Known as "TJ" to its students and faculty, Thomas Jefferson is a magnet high school that draws its students from among the best that suburban Washington, D.C., has to offer. The competitive academic environment at the school both challenges and rewards its student body. The students "feed off of each other and create a kind of synergy for thinking," says Thomas Jefferson Principal Evan Glazer.

TJ students are also able to take advantage of such high-tech course offerings as DNA Science II and Advanced Optics with Research Applications. This emphasis on math and science education is shared by many of the schools that made the U.S. News list this year—ranging from suburban Los Angeles's California Academy of Mathematics and Science (No. 26) to Lincroft, N.J.'s High Technology High School (No. 4).

Improving students' performance in math and the sciences is one of the key challenges the nation's high schools face as they prepare students to compete in the global workforce. Once a leader in teaching these disciplines, the United States now is far behind other countries. Out of 30 industrialized nations, America ranks 25th in math and 21st in science. Economists estimate that the nation's economy would grow by 4.5 percentage points over 20 years if America caught up to the leaders. "In a global economy, the best jobs are not going to go to the best in your class but to the best in the world," says Gary Phillips, a chief scientist for the American Institutes for Research in Washington.

For the first time, U.S. News also used International Baccalaureate program data as part of its analysis. Like the College Board's Advanced Placement program, which also provides test data used in the U.S. News high school rankings, the IB program offers courses and exams that prep students for college-level work. The IB program is offered in 131 nations around the world.

For more on America's Best High Schools:

• Gold Medal List
• Methodology
• Search Schools by State
• High School Videos