U.S. News & World Report Ranks Mira Costa and Redondo Union High Schools

Mira Costa High School has earned a gold medal for being one of the top 500 high schools nationwide, according to U.S. News & World Report, while Redondo Union High School earned a silver medal. Hermosa Beach residents have the choice of attending either high school.

Mira Costa, located in Manhattan Beach, placed 81st among high schools in California, according to U.S. News & World Report, and 417th nationwide. Redondo Union, located in Redondo Beach, was ranked 756th nationally and 146th statewide. Redondo Union was one of 1,790 schools nationwide awarded a silver medal, awarded for being a high school with the highest unrounded college readiness indexes, ranking No. 501 through No. 2,290.

Mira Costa High School

National Ranking: 417
California Ranking: 81

College Readiness Index: 48.9
Academic Performance Index: 910
Student/Teacher Ratio: N/A 

Redondo Union High School

National Ranking: 756
California Ranking: 146

College Readiness Index: 38.2
Academic Performance Index: 837
Student/Teacher Ratio: N/A 

The top five schools in California, respectively, are Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, Oxford Academy in Cypress, Whitney High School in Cerritos, The Preuss School in La Jolla and American Indian Public High School in Oakland.

The Lennox Mathematics, Science & Technology Academy in nearby Lennox placed 6th, the Hawthorne Math and Science Academy in Hawthorne placed 12th, the California Academy Of Mathematics And Science in Carson placed 13th and the Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy in Wilmington placed 15th in CA. 

U.S. News & World Report lists MCHS with an enrollment of 2,359, 37 percent of which are minorities and 5 percent of which are economically disadvantaged. RUHS has an enrollment of 2,505, 49 percent of which are minorities and 19 percent of which are considered economically disadvantaged.

Oxford Academy and Whitney High are listed with 1,128 and 1,023 students, respectively. The other top schools listed in the top five and nearby have fewer than 1,000 students.

CA's 8th place high school, Lowell in San Francisco, is shown with an enrollment of 2,580 and the state's 10th school, Mission San Jose in Fremont, has 2,198 students.

According to the report, the rankings are developed in conjunction with the Washington-based American Institutes for Research and are determined using math and English proficiency, college readiness and the ratio of students to teachers. Nearly 22,000 schools were analyzed.

Some educators have called into question the statistics used to determine the survey. In fact, one Nevada principal, whose school ranks 13th in the nation, told the Las Vegas Sun some of the information used was inaccurate.

• See the full 2013 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings
• View photos of the top 10 best public high schools. 
• Learn how U.S. News calculated the Best High Schools rankings.

This year's "Best High Schools" report, available exclusively online, is U.S. News & World Report's fifth edition.

• From May 8, 2012: Mira Costa in CA's Top 75 in U.S. News & World Report
• From June 21, 2011: Mira Costa Not on Newsweek's List of Top Schools
• From Oct. 4, 2011: 
• From Sept. 17, 2010: MBUSD's Ranking Jumps from Fifth to Third in State

Former Patch Regional Editor Lindsay Wilkes-Edrington contributed to this report.