Northwest Arkansas is home to eight of the state's top 10 public high schools, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2024 rankings, released today.
Haas Hall Academy swept the first four spots, with its Bentonville campus ranked No. 1, followed in order by the Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale campuses. Those charter schools ranked 15th, 66th, 69th and 97th overall in the nation, respectively, according to the magazine. Haas Hall Bentonville was No. 3 nationally among charter schools.
The rest of U.S. News & World Report's top 15 in Arkansas for 2024, with national ranking in parenthesis:
5. Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy (Bentonville) (301)
6. Bentonville High School (587)
7. Rogers New Technology High School (689)
8. Maumelle Charter High School (774)
9. Greenbrier High School (952)
10. Eureka Springs High School (1,214)
11. Valley Springs High School (1,251)
12. Bismarck High School (1,366)
13. Bentonville West High School (1,656)
14. Fayetteville High School (1,796)
15. eStem Public Charter High School (Little Rock) (2,137)
The rankings evaluated nearly 18,000 eligible public high schools at the national, state and local levels, according to a U.S. News & World Report news release.
"The 2024 Best High Schools rankings offer a starting point for parents to understand a school's academic performance, whether it's a prospective school or one that their child is already attending," LaMont Jones, managing editor of education for U.S. News, said in the release. "Accessible data on our high schools can empower families across the country as they navigate today's educational environment and plan for the future."
BASIS Peoria in Peoria, Ariz., was the best public high school nationally, followed by Signature School in Evansville, Ind., and Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Wash., according to U.S. News. Julia R. Masterman Secondary School in Philadelphia was fourth, with Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago fifth.
The top schools had students with exceptional scores on state assessments for math, reading and science, according to the release. College readiness, curriculum breadth, high graduation rates and strong underserved student performance were also important factors, according to the release.
U.S. News worked with RTI International, a global research firm, to implement the methodology for the annual rankings, according to the release.
Haas Hall Bentonville's rise to No. 1 in Arkansas comes one year after the school was ranked 17th in the state, while Haas Hall's three other campuses took the top three spots.
Haas Hall released a statement following the release of last year's U.S. News rankings which said the College Board mistakenly used an incorrect identification number for the Bentonville campus, resulting in no information for the school's college readiness and college curriculum breadth data used by U.S. News. That resulted in the Bentonville campus' No. 17 ranking, when it should have been ranked first or second, according to Haas Hall.
Visit usnews.com/education for more information on the rankings.