Best High Schools list in Nevada includes 4 Reno campuses

Four Reno high schools made the top 10 in Nevada rankings for the best high schools in America as rated by U.S. News & World Report.

Coral Academy Charter School at no. 2, the Academy of Art Careers and Technology at no. 4, Reno High School at no. 7 and Robert McQueen High School at no. 8 all breached the top of the state charts for the the publications annual high school rankings. The highest ranked in Nevada was Advanced Technologies Academy in Las Vegas.

The annual rankings are determined by a series of metrics including performance of both traditional and disadvantaged students, graduation rates and preparation for college-level coursework.

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Charter and magnet schools, which tend to attract highly accomplished students, mostly dominated the top 10 in Nevada. Only three schools – Reno, McQueen and Douglas County High School in Minden – are traditionally public schools.

Three schools in the state made the top 500 nationwide: Advanced Technologies Academy at no. 287, Coral Academy at no. 434 and West Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas at no. 479. Seven were in the top 1,000.

Other schools in Northern Nevada reaching high rankings in the state were George Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove at no. 15 and Carson High School in Carson City at no. 19.

While Nevada’s education frequently ranks among the worst in the nation, the top schools did experience an uptick in their ratings from U.S. News & World Report between 2016 and 2017.

In 2016, the top-rated school was the Academy of Art Careers and Technology, with a national ranking of 639. Only four schools made the top 1,000, with Galena High School in Reno as the only public school.

This year, seven high schools rank in the top 1,000, including Reno and McQueen. Galena was not ranked in 2017.

A previous version of this article stated Coral Academy in Reno was ranked third. It has been updated to show Coral Academy was ranked second.