Both Riverside Brookfield High School and Lyons Township High School moved up this year in the annual U.S. News & World Report best high schools rankings. RBHS jumped 17 spots moving up to 51st in the state and LTHS moved up three spots to 41st in the state according to U.S. News latest rankings of public high schools.

“I’m thrilled,” said RBHS Principal Hector Freytas. “I’m really proud of the effort, the partnership really, between the parents, teachers, students, superintendent, everyone. We worked together for this. I’m proud of the kids, I’m proud of the community. This is only the beginning, to improve and to work towards the top 10. I couldn’t be prouder.”

The results in this year’s rankings were based on data collected from the Class of 2021.

“I think this is a challenging year to put a whole lot of stock because it’s based on the junior year of testing of 2021,” said LTHS Director of Curriculum and Instruction Scott Eggerding. “I know everyone saw the scores go down. I guess the good thing is that it didn’t necessarily change our overall ranking compared to other schools.”

U.S. News bases its rankings on a statistical analysis of six factors. College Readiness, which is measured by the proportion of a school’s 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exam is worth 30% of a school’s score. Proficiency on state assessment exams counts for 20% as does a measure of the performance on state assessments adjusted for the proportion of the student body that is Black, Hispanic or low income.

Counting for 10% of a school’s score each is the breadth of a school’s college prep curriculum which is measured by the percentage of a school’s students who took and earned a qualifying score on multiple AP or IB exams, a measurement of the academic performance among Black, Hispanic and low income students at a school and the school’s graduation rate.

RBHS rank has jumped from 80th in 2020 while LTHS’s rankings have shown only minimal movement.

U.S. News ranked RBHS as the 1,407th best public high school in the country while LTHS was ranked 1,131st in the country.

According to U.S. News 65% of the students in the RBHS Class of 2021 took an advanced placement exam and 51% of the members of the Class of 2021 passed at least one AP exam. At LTHS 53% of students took an AP exam while 44% passed at least one AP exam.

While RBHS outperformed LTHS in AP participation and results LTHS students did better than their counterparts at RBHS on state mandated tests, primarily the SAT. 51% of LTHS students met the state proficiency standard in math compared to 44% at RBHS. In reading 54% of LTHS students met the standard compared to 46% at RBHS. 52% of LTHS students met the state standard in science compared to 44% at RBHS. Students at both schools far surpassed the state averages. Statewide only 20% of students met the proficiency target in math while 30% did so in reading and science.

RBHS had a graduation rate of 96% while LTHS’s graduation rate was 95%.

Both RBHS and LTHS placed relatively poorly in the state assessment performance rank which adjusts the results on state tests for the percentage of Black, Hispanic and low income students at a high school taking the tests.