By Vaughn Thompson, Staff Writer

Walter Payton College Prep, previously the #1 high school in Illinois, has fallen into second place and is now sitting behind Northside College Prep on the rankings, according to US News & World Reports. Lane Tech, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and Jones College Prep have taken third, fourth and fifth place respectively. Nationally, Northside is ranked #30, Payton is #54, Lane Tech is #80, IMSA is #88 and Jones is #99.

According to US News & World Reports, these rankings are determined by a number of factors, all set up to measure which school is the “best.” Here is what they take into account.

The 6 Ranking Indicators:

1. College Readiness (30 percent): To determine the college readiness level of a school, there are two elements that are averaged to determine a school’s CRI (College Readiness Index): participation rate of students (the number of students who have taken an AP (Advanced Placement) or IB (International Baccalaureate) exam by the end of their senior year divided by the number of seniors) and quality-adjusted participation rate (number of students who earned a passing grade on an AP or IB test by the end of senior year divided by the total number of seniors). A passing grade is weighted more than just participation, so the participation rate counts for 25 percent of the CRI and quality-adjusted participation rate counts for 75 percent. For a school to get a CRI of 100, all seniors had to have taken and passed at least one AP or IB exam.
2. College Curriculum Breadth Index (CCBI) (10 percent): The CCBI is measured based on how many students took multiple AP and IB exams by the end of their senior year. Students who earned qualifying scores in four AP or IB exams earned full credit for the school (100 percent). Those who took them in two or three areas earned 50 percent and 75 percent respectively. The percent of students taking exams in multiple subject areas would earn 25 percent for this ranking indicator and those who took and earned qualifying scores would count for 75 percent.
3. State Assessment Proficiency (20 percent): Each school is measured on how well on average students performed on math, science and reading standardized tests. If all students earned a perfect score, the school earns a perfect score. This is compared with other schools around the nation.
4. State Assessment Performance (20 percent): The math, science and reading standardized test scores are also analyzed through the lens of the school’s demographic (i.e. having a high proportion of low-income students is taken into account). This is compared against what the expected scores for that percentage of each demographic of students is expected to receive.
5. Underserved Student Performance (10 percent): This category observes how underserved students (Black, Hispanic, low-income, etc.) perform in school compared to nonunderserved students. The greater the distance between test scores and performance between a school’s underserved and nonunderserved population, the worse a school scores on this ranking indicator.
6. Graduation Rate (10 percent): The average graduation rate is measured in each school and compared against others’.

These weighted scores are added for each school to determine their ranking on a scale of 1-100. For example, a score of 70 would put the school in the 70th percentile, meaning that they ranked higher than 70 percent of other schools around the country.

Here is a look at the scores that Payton and Northside received this year:

Payton – 99.7

• Took at least one AP exam: 93%
• Passed at least one AP exam: 87%
• Mathematics proficiency: 85%
• Reading proficiency: 87%
• Graduation rate: 95%

Northside – 99.83

• Took at least one AP exam: 96%
• Passed at least one AP exam: 90%
• Mathematics proficiency: 91%
• Reading proficiency: 92%
• Graduation rate: 97%

For more information on particular details of school rankings, visit U.S. News & World Report.