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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Dozen Spokane area high schools rank in state’s top 100

Miles Heath, left, and Bri Dashiell take part in a class discussion about probability in a statistics class Thursday, Nov. 13, 2019, at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane. In the 2020 U.S. News and World Report’s top 100 high schools in the United States, LC is ranked 27th out of 17,790 public high schools. (Jesse Tinsley / The Spokesman-Review)

With Lewis and Clark, Davenport and Pullman leading the way, a dozen area public high schools placed in the top 100 in statewide rankings released Tuesday morning by U.S. News and World Report.

Drawing on data from the 2017-18 school year, the report ranked 17,790 public high schools in the nation and 310 in the state of Washington.

Another 388 schools were unranked.

Criteria included college readiness, graduation rates, math and reading proficiency on state-required tests, with allowances for each school’s proportion of low-income and minority students.

Schools in Western Washington, especially King County, topped the rankings. However, those schools also dominated the list of lowest-ranked schools.

Among area schools, three placed in the top 50. LC, with an 89% graduation rate and a college-readiness score of 50 (out of 100 points possible), finished 27th.

LC also posted a proficiency score of 56 in math and 78 in reading – well above the district and state averages in both. Overall, Spokane Public Schools averaged 32 in math (compared to the state average of 40) and 67 in math (compared to a state average of 70).

Despite having 50% of its students classified as economically disadvantaged, Davenport High School posted one of the sixth-best proficiency scores in the state. It ranked 29th overall.

Pullman ranked 34th overall thanks partly to a 94% graduation rate.

Among other area schools, North Central ranked 51st, Ferris 54th, Mead 63rd, Central Valley 65th, Mt. Spokane 78th, University 82nd, Cheney 88th , Rogers 94th and Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 95th.

Statewide, the top school was the Tesla STEM High School in Redmond. The highest-ranked comprehensive high school was Newport High of Bellevue, which was fourth in the state and 177th nationally.

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jima@spokesman.com