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Newsweek Ranks Mira Costa High School in Top 500 Nationwide

Aug 19, 2015 08:45AM ● By Mb News Staff

Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach continues to shine as one of the best high schools in California and the nation.

Newsweek magazine has ranked Mira Costa High School, the public high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District in its just announced 2015 top 500 high schools nationwide.

Mira Costa came in at 341, with a graduation rate of 99.3%, and high marks in AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Composite and an average SAT score of 1733. The school also was heralded as a school that meets Newsweek's "Equity" measure by helping low-income students score at or above average on state assessments.

In 2013, Mira Costa ranked 409 in the Newsweek list. In 2012, the ranking was 367.

Newsweek High School Rankings recognize the achievements of the best public high schools in the United States for college readiness and have been published for more than a decade. 

Gretchen Whitney High School in Cerritos was the highest ranking California public high school, coming in at No. 6. Other top-ranking CA high schools are
  • Piedmont High at No. 25
  • Oxford Academy at No. 26
  • Lynbrook High at No. 38
  • Monta Vista High at No. 40
  • Palos Verdes Peninsula at No. 72
The No. 1 high school is Thomas Jefferson High in Alexandria, VA. Six New Jersey high schools round out the Top 10 along with a high school from Illinois and Michigan, and the lone CA contender.

This year’s rankings were weighted by:
  • Enrollment Rate—25 percent
  • Graduation Rate—20 percent
  • Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite—17.5 percent
  • Weighted SAT/ACT composite—17.5 percent
  • Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates—10 percent
  • Counselor-to-Student Ratio—10 percent

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