KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-area schools make up half of the top 20 schools in Kansas and Missouri, according to U.S. News and World Report.
The publication released its annual rankings of the best high schools in the nation this week. U.S. News also breaks down the best high schools in each state.
For Kansas, seven of the top 10 schools are in the Kansas City area.
KCK’s Sumner Academy once again took the top spot in the state. But it’s rank on the nationwide list dropped to 110 from 32 last year.
After Sumner, the Kansas list features multiple Johnson County schools, including four of Blue Valley School District’s five high schools.
Here are the top 10 public high schools in Kansas:
- Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, KCK
- Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village
- Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park
- Blue Valley Northwest High School, Overland Park
- Blue Valley High School, Stilwell
- Rock Creek High School, St. George
- Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park
- Olathe Northwest High School, Olathe
- Andover High School, Andover
- Manhattan High School, Manhattan
On the Missouri side, only three Kansas City schools landed in U.S. News’ top 10, with St. Louis-area schools dominating the list.
Ewing Marion Kauffman High School was the highest-ranked Kansas City school in the state at No. 6.
Here are the top 10 public high schools in Missouri:
- Metro Academic and Classical High School, St. Louis
- Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, St. Louis
- Ladue Horton Watkins High School, Ladue
- Clayton High School, Clayton
- Kirkwood Sr. High School, Kirkwood
- Ewing Marion Kauffman High School, Kansas City
- Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Kansas City
- Park Hill High School, Kansas City
- Lafayette Sr. High School, Wildwood
- Parkway West High School, Ballwin
Schools were evaluated and ranked based on a variety of criteria, including standardized test scores, parent and student surveys, extracurricular activities, and indicators of teacher quality.
