Kentucky High School Best in the U.S., Says Newsweek/The Daily Beast

Newsweek and The Daily Beast have again set out to find the best high school in the United States, based on which schools are doing the best job preparing students for college.And they've decided that theCarol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green,Ky., is that school. The Gatton Academy was also named the top school last year in Newsweek/The Daily Beast's ranking.The Gatton Academy acceptsjuniors and seniors from across Kentucky and, as the name indicates, focuses on math and sciences. It's part of Western Kentucky University and students reside on campus.The School for the Talented and Gifted Magnet in Texas ranked No. 2 and the BASIS Scottsdale in Arizona ranked No. 3. Nineteen other Kentucky schools made Newsweek/The Daily Beast's top 2,000 high schools. Manual High School was the only Kentucky school besides the Gatton Academy in the top 100—it ranked No. 50.  The other Louisville area schools in the top 2,000 were:426     The Brown School651     Ballard High School919     Male High School1074     South Oldham High School1216     Oldham County High School1778     Eastern High SchoolMethodology, of course, matters most in how these rankings turn out. Here's Newsweek/The Daily Beast's explanation of theirs. Each year we have tweaked our methodology slightly, but stayed true to factors that have been proven to be the best indicators of college readiness: graduation rates, participation in college-level classes via Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, and acceptance into a two- or four-year college program.Last month, U.S. News & World Report issued its own ranking, and the Gatton Academy was absent. The school isn't on the U.S. Department of Education'slist of public schools—and that's what U.S. News used to build its list, said Robert Morse, director of date research for the publication.Manual was Kentucky's top high school, ranking No. 169 nationally.