Bellevue’s International School Keeps No. 9 National Rank

Bellevue’s International School is rated No. 9 in the nation based on state proficiency standards, how well it prepares students for college and other factors, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 Best High Schools rankings, released early Tuesday.

Three other high schools in the Bellevue School District were ranked in the top ten in the state.

The International School had a maximum college readiness ranking of 100, with 100 percent of 12th-graders taking and passing Advanced Placement exams, the report said. With 530 students and 26 teachers, it has a higher-than-average student-teacher ratio of 20:1. Click here for more details about the school and its ratings.

For its rankings, U.S. News collected data on more than 21,000 public high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia. (Nebraska did not report enough data to be included in the rankings.) From its release:

U.S. News joined forces with the American Institutes for Research, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, to evaluate schools on overall student performance on state-mandated assessments, as well as how effectively schools educated their black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. Performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams was then used to determine the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.

Schools were ranked within each state, as well as on a national stage, so families can see how their public high school stacked up against rivals within the community and across the country. In the national rankings, 500 schools earned gold medals, 1,790 were awarded silver and 2,515 took home bronze.

The top five high schools in Washington state, along with their national rankings, are:

Interlake High School in Bellevue was ranked #8 in the state and #282 nationally, which earned it a gold medal, according to the magazine's criteria.

See the full 2013 U.S. News Best High School rankings here.

What does your child’s high school do the best? What could it work on? Tell us in the comments.

2012 coverage:

Bellevue's International School in Top 10 of U.S. News High School Ranking; 3 More Bellevue Schools Get Gold