Banning, Beaumont High Schools Fall Short on State, National Rankings

Banning and Beaumont local high schools failed to make it into the top tier of the state's public secondary education institutes, according to a new report released Tuesday by U.S. News and World Report.

The report looked at thousands of public high schools, and analyzed things like performance on standardized testing, and how well the schools prepare students for college.

"The 2013 Best High Schools rankings, released today, can help parents wade through the ever expanding options of public high schools," the report says of the rankings.

While Banning High School is not even ranked on the list, Beaumont High School ranked #431 in California.

Beaumont High School was also ranked 1,871 in the nation, and received a "silver" award.  According to the report, the school did not achieve California's goal in the Academic Performance Index evaluation and had a "college readiness index" of 19.6 out of a possible 100.

Though Banning High School didn't make it into the state or national rankings, it had a higher college readiness score than Beaumont with 24.4, the report indicates.  It did not pass the API evaluation, either.

According to the publication, U.S. News collected data from more than 21,000 public high schools throughout the country to arrive at their rankings.  In the national rankings, 500 gold medals were awarded, along with 1,790 silver and 2,515 bronze.

There are 2,039 high schools in California, from 503 different school districts.

Here are the top ten schools in California, according to the report:

1. Pacific Collegiate School, Santa Cruz
2. Oxford Academy, Cypress
3. Whitney High School, Cerritos
4. The Preuss School, La Jolla
5. American Indian Public High School, Oakland
6. Lennox Mathematics, Science & Technology Academy, Lennox
7. University High School, Fresno
8. Lowell High School, San Francisco
9. Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy, Arcata
10. Mission San Jose High School, Fremont

The top school in the country is The School for the Talented and Gifted in the Dallas Independent School District, according to the report.

U.S. News created the report along with D.C.-based American Institutes for Research "...to evaluate schools on overall student performance on state-mandated assessments, as well as how effectively schools educated their black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. Performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams was then used to determine the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work."