Tremont Mail

Local Schools Make the Grade

The US News and World Report recently released their High School rankings for 2022, which identify the country’s top performing public high schools. Within the readership of The Mail, 3 communities earned a spot on that list: Dee-Mack, Olympia, and Tremont. Of the 3 schools, Dee-Mack topped the list, landing at spot # 4,005 nationally and #146 in Illinois. Tremont came next, hitting #5,930 nationally and #197 statewide, just eeking out Olympia who came in a respectable #5,987 nationally and #198 in Illinois. 

Many variables are taken into consideration when compiling the High School rankings including, but not limited to: graduation rate, science proficiency, reading proficiency, mathematics proficiency, as well as the amount of AP exams taken and passed. The rankings provided by US News and World report also look at the amount of diversity in any given school system. By their metrics, Tremont is the most diverse with 9.8% minority enrollment. Dee-Mack schools are on the lower end with only 4.5% minority enrollment.

While the list of High School Rankings relies on certain information, U.S. News does not collect or accept information directly from high schools themselves. Instead, the institution relies on data from 3rd party sources. “The common core of data” U.S. News says, “is the U.S. Department of Education's website, updated annually, which contains basic data on enrollment, student ethnicity and other profile information on all public high schools in the U.S.” Other sources of information include statewide math, reading, and science assessment test data and “Advanced Placement examination data” provided by The College Board.

When compiling their rankings, US News examined nearly 24,000 public high schools in all 50 states, along with the District of Columbia. Private high schools are not ranked, as they generally do not require their students to take the statewide accountability tests that are mandatory for students at public high schools.