Minnesota high schools ranked in U.S. News & World Report study

U.S. News & World Report, in collaboration with RTI International, has released its Best High Schools rankings for 2026-2027. The study evaluated more than 27,000 public high schools nationwide, ranking nearly 18,000 of them based on a national percentile score from zero to 100.

The ranking methodology utilizes six weighted factors: College Readiness (30%), State Assessment Proficiency (20%), State Assessment Performance (20%), College Curriculum Breadth (10%), Underserved Student Performance (10%), and Graduation Rate (10%). To qualify, schools must be public—including charters and magnets—and have a 12th-grade class of at least 15 students.

In Minnesota, the state has maintained a strong educational reputation, recently achieving a record-high graduation rate for the class of 2025. The rankings identify the top ten public high schools within the state based on these metrics.