Ventura County Schools in U.S. News 2013 Ranking of Nation's Top High Schools
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 11:05PM 
Yesterday, U.S. News & World Report published its 4th ranking of the nation's best public high schools. The study covered nearly 22,000 public high schools across the country.
Schools was again were ranked based on: (1) how well students tested in state-level reading and math proficiency, factoring in disadvantaged students, who tend to score lower on tests; and (2) college readiness, based on how well schools prepare students for college-level work via Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.
The median college readiness, measured on a scale of 0 to 100, was 14.8 (it was 16.3 in 2012). A readiness index of 100 means that all 12th graders took and passed at least 1 AP or IB test. (More on the methodology)
There were 2,039 California high schools and nearly 2 million students enrolled during the 2010-2011 survey period. To be ranked in California, schools must receive either a gold (top 500 nationally) or silver (top 501 to 2,290 nationally) medal. 501 Callifornia schools received gold or silver medals.
Rankings of local high schools in the Conejo Valley, Ventura County and adjacent areas and summarized in the table below. There were 15 local schools that received gold or silver medal status and thus were ranked nationally and in California.
We compared the 2013 rankings and ratings with those published last year. I will say once again that I find the ranking methodolgy to be perplexing. For example, Royal High has college readiness and academic performance scores of 21.3 and 775 and was not nationally ranked, yet Fillmore High and Buena High received lower scores, yet w
