Three East Cobb high schools—Walton, Lassiter and Pope—are listed among the best in Georgia in the latest U.S. News school rankings.
The annual public high school rankings were released last week (here’s the top of the Georgia list) with Walton 5th in the state, Lassiter 11th and Pope 24th.
Nationwide, those rankings are 187th, 321st and 702nd, respectively.
Wheeler comes in at No. 56 statewide, Sprayberry is at No. 70 and Kell No. 121 in Georgia.
The scores are based on a variety of data, including graduation rates, math and reading proficiency, Advanced Placement offerings and what U.S. News calls a College Readiness Index.
The rankings, in fact, are strongly skewed toward college-bound academic programs, and heavily favor those with ample AP course offerings. There’s no inclusion of vocational or other career-ready programs in the rankings.
The four schools in Georgia listed above Walton are all specialty schools: the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, the Davidson Magnet School in Augusta, Columbus High School and the DeKalb School of the Arts.
All of them have higher or comparable AP participation rates to Walton’s 71 percent. Lassiter’s rate is 70 percent, and Pope’s is 55 percent.
U.S. News data also includes racial and ethnic minority enrollment figures, and details on economically disadvantaged students.
Georgia comes in at No. 22 in the state-by-state rankings.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
