Seven high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District were honored with distinctions from the annual U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools Rankings.

Canyon High School, Golden Valley High School, Hart High School, Saugus High School, Valencia High School and West Ranch High School each earned silver medals in the rankings. Academy of the Canyons was also awarded a bronze medal, according to officials.

More than 22,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia were compared using various metrics, including how the schools performed on state assessment tests and how well they prepare students for college, according to school officials.

“It is exciting to see the hard work of our teachers and administrators at all six of our comprehensive high schools, plus AOC, pay off with this recognition,” said Vicki Engbrecht, superintendent of the Hart School District. “Our focus has been and continues to be on the preparation and success of all our students, and that is what truly matters.”

Hart High School scored the highest in the District, ranking 171 in California (982 nationally). West Ranch has a California rank of 210 (1154 nationally), Saugus 247 (1339), Golden Valley 338 (1772), Valencia 344 (1793) and Canyon 411 (2125).

The report noted AP participation rate, graduation rate and college readiness were large factors in the ranking.

By virtue of being a middle college high school, Academy of the Canyons does not offer AP classes, but instead their students take college classes concurrently with their high school coursework. This went against the school in the report’s rankings, according to officials.

According to U.S. News & World Report, four steps were used to determine the awards: students perform better than expected in their state; disadvantaged students perform better than state average; student graduation rates meet or exceed a national standard; students are prepared for college-level work.

Ed. Note: This above information was provided to KHTS by the Hart District.

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