SM East makes Newsweek’s ‘Best High Schools’ list again — but slips in local rankings

According to Newsweek, the diploma SM East's graduating seniors received last week is among the 1000 most valuable in the nation.

SM East has again made it onto Newsweek magazine’s list of the best high schools in the country — though its standing in relation to other area schools has slipped.

The rankings, released earlier this week, place SM East as the 540th best school in the country. Last year, its ranking was 326th, making it the best public high school in Kansas. This year, however, it lost ground to three Blue Valley high schools: Blue Valley North (341st), Blue Valley (471st), and Blue Valley Northwest (482nd). Two more Blue Valley school, Blue Valley West (580th) and Blue Valley Southwest (890th), made the top 1000.

The Sumner Academy of Arts and Science in Kansas City, Kan., a magnet school, had the top ranking in the state at 254th overall.

The rankings are based on a formula that takes graduation rate, the percent of college bound students, average standardized test scores, AP/IB test completion rates, and the number of students receiving subsidized lunches into account.

According to the figures used in the rankings, SM East has a graduation rate of 98 percent, an average SAT score of 1792 and an average ACT score of 25.2.