Drop in Ranking Still Earns Mira Costa Gold Honor

Mira Costa High School has dropped in its ranking among high schools in the United States and California, as calculated by U.S. News & World Report, but in spite of the drop in rank was still one of 500 schools nationwide awarded a gold medal. Gold medals are based on highest college readiness. 

In 2012, the Manhattan Beach-based school placed 72nd among high schools in California, according to U.S. News & World Report, and 400th nationwide. For 2013, MCHS has dropped to 81st in CA and 417th nationwide, according to the magazine's latest report released Tuesday.

The report ranks two of the three public high schools on the Palos Verdes Peninsula higher than Mira Costa: Palos Verdes Peninsula High School ranked 24th among California high schools and 156th nationwide; Palos Verdes High School ranked 43rd in California and 269th nationwide. 

Mira Costa High School

National Ranking: 417
California Ranking: 81

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

For 2012, the online publication reported a College Readiness Index of 49.1; Academic Performance Index of 899 and a Student/Teacher Ratio of 25:1.

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.

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.

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

See the full California rankings and learn more about the U.S. News & World Report ranking methodology.

• 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.