Two Palo Alto High Schools Rank Among Top 50 In California: U.S. News

PALO ALTO, CA — Henry M. Gunn High School and Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto are both among the top 50 schools in California, according to a new national ranking released this week by U.S. News and World Report. This year's list of best high schools evaluated more than 17,800 schools nationwide, including 1,603 in California.

Henry M. Gunn High School is now ranked at number 188 nationally — dropping 15 spots in the overall rankings from 2021. In the statewide rankings, it fell two spots to No. 21.

Palo Alto High School is now ranked at number 295 nationally — improving from No. 333 in 2021. In the statewide rankings, it went up nine spots to No. 34.

You can search the full list here.

The 2022 ranking of best high schools is intended to show how well the nation’s public schools serve all students, regardless of achievement level, by teaching them basic skills and preparing them for college-level work, according to a news release from U.S. News.

Families can also use the rankings to see how schools compare at the national, state and local levels on factors such as graduation rates and college readiness.

Last year, Oxford Academy in Cypress sat at the top of the list and ranked no. 11 nationally, while Whitney High School in Cerritos took second place. This year Whitney High also jumped from no. 25 to no. 14 on the national list.

Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in Wilmington also jumped up several spots, advancing from no. 8 statewide and no. 84 nationally to no. 4 statewide and no. 62 nationally.

No California schools made the top ten national ranking.

SEE THE 2021 RANKING: CA's Top 100 Public High Schools Ranked By U.S. News

This year’s schools were ranked on six measures: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment performance, state assessment proficiency, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates.

The data used in this year’s ranking is from the 2019-20 academic school year. U.S. News adjusted its calculation of these measures to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year.

Since most states closed schools for in-person instruction starting in March 2020 — typically just before most states conduct assessments — the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers allowing all states to forgo state testing for the 2019-20 school year.

To account for this, U.S. News relied on past assessment data from the
three prior ranking years. Researchers also incorporated state science assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.

In addition to the national rankings, U.S. News also published rankings at the state, metro area and school district levels. Only metro areas and school districts with three or more high schools were included in these subrankings.