For the ninth consecutive year, Hamilton High School was named to U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best High Schools” list. Hamilton is ranked 17th among 460 Wisconsin public high schools and 878th among 17,680 U.S. public high schools that made the ranking.
The ranking highlights the best public high schools in the nation after review of data to identify how well schools serve all students in preparing them in basic skills and readiness for college-level work.
Schools were ranked based on:
- college readiness – the proportion of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam (30% of ranking);
- state assessment proficiency – the aggregated scores on state assessments that students may be required to pass for graduation (20%);
- state assessment performance – whether performance on state assessments exceeded expectations given the school’s proportion of underserved students (20%);
- underserved student performance – how Black, Hispanic and low-income students performed on state assessments compared with those who are not underserved in the state (10%);
- college curriculum breadth – the proportions of 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score on AP or IB exams in multiple content areas (10%); and
- graduation rate – the proportion of students who entered ninth grade in 2017-18 and graduated four years later (10%).
“To be ranked 17th in a state with approximately 831 high schools, places Hamilton in the top 2% of high schools in Wisconsin,” said Hamilton High School Principal Rebecca Newcomer. “We know that communities value good schools and it is a point of pride that Hamilton is providing an excellent education for our students. We also appreciate our families and other constituent groups as they provide us with feedback and support as we strive to continuously improve.”