By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

Niche.com conducted a recent ranking for the 2016 best public elementary schools in the Birmingham Metro area and Helena Intermediate School ranked as one of the top 100 schools, according to the website.

A list of 100 elementary schools in the Birmingham area were ranked based on state test scores, student-teacher ratio, student diversity, teacher quality and the overall quality of the school district.

Helena Intermediate School came in at No. 50 on the list of 100 school and received a grade of an A- for academics, a B+ for district overall experience, a B- for teachers and a B- for student culture and diversity.

Niche.com claims that at the time of calculation, their database contained records for 53,705 public elementary schools.

Academic performance carried the highest weight when determining the final ranking, with a weight of 50 percent.

District overall experience and teachers grade carried a weight of 20 percent and student culture and diversity carried a weight of 10 percent.

Other schools within Shelby County that received high marks include Shelby Elementary School at No. 27, Wilsonville Elementary School at No. 30, Mt Laurel Elementary School at No. 31, Calera Intermediate School at No. 32, Montevallo Elementary School at No. 36, Oak Mountain Intermediate School at No. 37, Calera Elementary School at No. 43, Vincent Elementary School at No. 51 and Chelsea Park Elementary School at No. 66.

Helena Intermediate School is located at 3500 Shelby County 52. The HIS administrative staff includes Principal Kathy Paiml and Assistant Principal Genet Holcomb.

For more information on the ranking visit K12.niche.com/rankings/public-elementary-schools/best-overall/m/birmingham-metro-area/.