Magnet schools and suburbs dominate Alabama public high school rankings

Magnet schools in Montgomery and Huntsville along with traditional schools from suburbs like Mountain Brook, Madison and Vestavia Hills dominated U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of Alabama’s best public high schools in a list released Tuesday.

Montgomery’s Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School (LAMP) was listed as the 23rd best public high school in the United States. LAMP is one of three Montgomery magnet schools ranked among the state’s ten best institutions.

Of Alabama’s traditional public high schools (non-magnet, non-charter), seven ranked in the top 1,000 nationwide. Each of the seven is located in a relatively affluent suburb of Birmingham or Huntsville.

A total of 17,790 public schools are included on the published national list.

U.S. News and World Report calculated their rankings based on six factors: College Readiness (30%), College Curriculum Breadth (10%), Math and Reading Proficiency (20%), Math and Reading Performance (20%), Underserved Student Performance (10%), and Graduation Rate (10%).

Explanations for what each category entails can be found here.

The top 25, per WHNT:

1. Loveless Academic Magnet Program High School – Montgomery County (#23 in National Rankings)
2. New Century Tech Demo High School (Magnet) – Huntsville City (#156 in National Rankings)
3. Mountain Brook High School – Mountain Brook City (#246 in National Rankings)
4. Homewood High School – Homewood City (#362 in National Rankings)
5. Booker T. Washington Magnet High School – Montgomery County (#650 in National Rankings)
6. Vestavia Hills High School – Vestavia Hills City (#818 in National Rankings)
7. James Clemens High School – Madison City (#819 in National Rankings)
8. Bob Jones High School – Madison City (#820 in National Rankings)
9. Oak Mountain High School – Shelby County (#862 in National Rankings)
10. Brewbaker Tech Magnet High School – Montgomery County (#909 in National Rankings)
11. Spain Park High School – Hoover City (#993 in National Rankings)
12. Fairhope High School – Baldwin County (#1164 in National Rankings)
13. Ramsay High School – Birmingham City (#1187 in National Rankings)
14. Arab High School – Arab City (#1202 in National Rankings)
15. Huntsville High School – Huntsville City (#1257 in National Rankings)
16. Helena High School – Shelby County (#1593 in National Rankings)
17. Hewitt-Trussville High School – Trussville City (#1601 in National Rankings)
18. Auburn High School – Auburn City (#1632 in National Rankings)
19. Cullman High School – Cullman City (#1688 in National Rankings)
20. W.P Davidson High School – Mobile County (#1785 in National Rankings)
21. Virgil Grissom High School – Huntsville City (#1808 in National Rankings)
22. Hoover High School – Hoover City (#1853 in National Rankings)
23. Fayette County High School – Fayette County (#1995 in National Rankings)
24. Oneonta High School – Oneonta City (#2041 in National Rankings)
25. Hartselle High School – Hartselle City (#2106 in National Rankings)

The full ranked list of Alabama schools can found here.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95