Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Staff Writer

According to the 2024 U.S. News and World Report’s Best High Schools ranking, Shelby County is home to four of the Top 25 public high schools in the state of Alabama, with seven in the Top 70.

The schools that achieved positions in the Top 25 are:

• No. 7, Spain Park High School
• No. 10, Oak Mountain High School
• No. 24, Helena High School
• No. 25, Chelsea High School

According to a statement released with the rankings, U.S. News creates a ranking of high schools across the nation each year, using six indicators of school quality.

“The highest ranked U.S. public schools in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best High Schools rankings are those whose students demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessments, earned qualifying scores on an array of college-level exams and graduated in high proportions,” the statement read.

The six indicators of school quality include:

• College Readiness (30 percent of overall score), the proportion of students that took and earned a qualifying score for at least one AP or IB exam, with a qualifying score being worth triple the value than an unqualifying score
• State Assessment Proficiency (20 percent of overall score), aggregated scores on state assessments
• State Assessment Performance (20 percent of overall score), how the state assessment scores compare to the expected scores given the proportion of students that are Black, Hispanic or from low-income households.
• Underserved Student Performance (10 percent of overall score), aggregated state assessment scores from underserved students that are Black, Hispanic or from low-income households, compared to non-underserved students.
• College Curriculum Breadth (10 percent of overall score), proportion of students that took and earned a qualifying score on multiple AP or IB exams. The value increases by number of exams and qualifying scores worth triple than unqualifying scores.
• Graduation Rate (10 percent of final score), the percentage of ninth grade students that graduated four years later

Using this rubric, the state rankings of all high schools in Shelby County are as follows:

• No. 7, Spain Park High School, overall score of 94.77, a college readiness score of 45.2 and a 15:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,503 students
• No. 10, Oak Mountain High School, overall score of 94.48, a college readiness score of 38.8 and an 18:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,561 students
• No. 24, Helena High School, overall score of 87.37, a college readiness score of 35.1 and an 18:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,418 students
• No. 25 Chelsea High School, overall score of 87.35, a college readiness score of 32.3 and an 18:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,400 students
• No. 40, Pelham High School, overall score of 81.25, a college readiness score of 34.1 and a 16:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,080 students
• No. 68, Thompson High School, overall score of 71.67, a college readiness score of 33.6 and a 17:1 student-teacher ratio for 2,203 students
• No. 69, Shelby County High School, overall score of 71.53, a college readiness score of 16.8 and a 14:1 student-teacher ratio for 584 students
• No. 118, Calera High School, overall score of 53.29, a college readiness score of 12.6 and a 19:1 student-teacher ratio for 1,066 students
• No. 147, Montevallo High School, overall score of 43.15, a college readiness score of 20.7 and a 16:1 student-teacher ratio for 506 students
• No. 201, Vincent Middle High School, overall score of 23.54, a college readiness score of 16.7 and a 13:1 student-teacher ratio for 279 students