Cinco Ranch high schools included in Newsweek's America's Best High Schools study

by Matt Russell | August 17, 2012 3:32 pm

Two Katy Independent School District high schools have been ranked in the top third of 1,000 U.S. public high schools in a new Newsweek list.

Seven Lakes High School and Cinco Ranch High School both received high rankings in the publication's America's Best High Schools 2012 list. In putting the list together, Newsweek reached out to principals, superintendents and other administrators at public high schools across the country. In order for a school to be considered specific data had to be provided from the 2010-11 school year.

More than 2,300 schools from across the country participated with the top 1,000 schools ranked based on six criteria focusing on quality of education and effectiveness in turning out college-ready graduates. Criteria included graduation and college matriculation rates, average SAT/ACT scores, the number of Advanced Placement courses offered per student and scores on AP tests and other exams.

Seven Lakes High School ranked 277 on the list, with a 100 percent graduation rate and 93 percent rate of graduates enrolled in college. Average SAT score at the school was 1650 and the average ACT score was 24.7.

Average national scores are 1500 for the SAT and 21.1 for the ACT.

Cinco Ranch High School ranked 354 on the list, with a 99 percent graduation rate 90 percent of graduates enrolled in college rate. Its average SAT score was 1677, with an average ACT score of 25.2.

"Strong schools are one of the major reasons why Cinco Ranch ranked third in the nation for new-home sales in 2011, so it's great to see our high schools rank so high in the nation as well," said Heather Gustafson, marketing director for Newland Communities, developer of Cinco Ranch, in a press release. "We salute all the students, teachers, parents and other community members who helped Seven Lakes and Cinco Ranch achieve these very impressive rankings."

Newsweek has compiled the America's Best High Schools list since 1998. To see the complete 2012 list and read more about rankings, visit thedailybeast.com/newsweek.