RALEIGH -- Raleigh Charter High School has made U.S. News & World Report's 2010 list of America's 100 best high schools.
Raleigh Charter finished 24th on the list that was released online at midnight and will be on newsstands around Dec. 17. Nine other Triangle high schools made it on the newsmagazine's deeper list of 1,787 best high schools.
All together, 50 North Carolina schools made the U.S. News list, which was developed after reviewing data from 21,786 public high schools across the nation.
Raleigh Charter was the only Triangle school to earn a "gold medal" for finishing in the top 100. The highest ranking school in the state was the Early College at Guilford, which ranked 18th.
Next came Athens Drive High in Raleigh, Cary High, Green Hope High in Cary, Jordan-Matthews High in Siler City and Sanderson High in Raleigh, which were among the 461 schools nationally to receive "silver medal" recognition.
Next up were 1,189 "bronze medal" schools, including North Johnston High.
Among the 37 "honorable mention" schools were Chapel Hill High, East Chapel Hill High and Woods Charter in Chatham County. East Chapel Hill, like Raleigh Charter, had made last year's top 100 list for U.S. News.
The U.S. News list has some noticeable differences from a rival one developed by Newsweek.
Unlike Newsweek, U.S. News assessed whether schools did better than expected on state math and reading exams. U.S. News also checks whether the low-income and minority students at a school are doing better than the state average.
Like Newsweek, U.S. News incorporates data from Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams.
The inclusion of the performance of low-income and minority students is why project analysts have said a school like Enloe High in Raleigh makes the Newsweek list but not the U.S. News list.
