KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A Kansas City, Kansas high school has once again been ranked No. 1 by U.S. News as the best high school in the state of Kansas, Kansas City-area, as well as one of the top in the nation.

Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences was ranked by U.S. News as the number one high school in Kansas and ranked 32 in the nation.

The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on nearly 24,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.

This is the fourth year in a row Sumner has been named No. 1 in Kansas.

Sumner High School was a segregated school for Black students from 1905 until 1978. It was named Sumner in honor of Charles Sumner (1811-1884) who was a member of the United States Senate and was a very strong abolitionist who fought for the rights of Black people.

The high school closed in 1978 and students were reassigned as part of court-ordered desegregation. It reopened the same year as Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, a magnet school for highly motivated and academically talented students.

Sumner was named to the National Register of Historic Places and the Register of Historic Kansas Places in 2005.

Seven other Kansas City-area schools also made the top 10 for Kansas:

• Blue Valley North High School (2)
• Shawnee Mission East High School (3)
• Olathe Northwest High School (4)
• Blue Valley High School (5)
• Blue Valley West High School (6)
• Blue Vallley Northwest High School (7)
• Blue Valley Southwest High School (9)

Across the state line in Missouri, Lincoln College Prep is ranked second and Ewing Marion Kauffman High School is ranked third for Kansas City area schools.