RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The latest U.S. News and World Reports “Best High Schools in America” rankings are out and two Richmond Public Schools have ranked the highest in Central Virginia.
Open High School — which is ranked second within Virginia — is ranked 170th in the nation, out of the nearly 25,000 high schools for which U.S. News reviewed data. Richmond Community High School, which is ranked third in Virginia, takes the 175th spot in America. The only school ahead of them in the state is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a governor’s school in northern Virginia.
According to the scoring overview, Open High School received a rating of 99.04. They cited factors such as:
- Advanced Placement coursework participation rate of 98%
- 60% of students pass at least one AP exam
- Mathematics proficiency of 96%
- Reading proficiency of 100%
- Science proficiency of 100%
- Graduation rate of 98%
Open’s student body is overwhelmingly low-income, with a mostly minority student body. According to the report, 98% of students are economically disadvantaged and qualify for the free lunch program.
The picture is similar at Richmond Community High School, although the school’s minority enrollment is even higher at 73.5%, compared to Open’s 53.7%. The economic situation is the same though, with nearly every student being economically disadvantaged and qualifying for free lunch.
According to the scoring overview, Richmond Community received a rating of 99.01. U.S. News cited factors such as:
- Advanced Placement coursework participation rate of 100%
- 59% of students pass at least one AP exam
- Mathematics proficiency of 75%
- Reading proficiency of 100%
- Science proficiency of 96%
- Graduation rate of 100%
As specialty schools that require students to complete an application to be considered for admission, both Open and Community high schools have relatively low enrollment, U.S. News shows an enrollment of 188 students at Open and 211 at Richmond Community.
