Three of the top ten schools in California are charter public schools. 

That’s according to the 2020 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings released yesterday. Overall, charter public schools make up nearly 30 percent of California’s top 100 public schools--despite accounting for around 10 percent of the state’s total public schools.

The rankings include data on more than 24,000 public high schools from across the country, including 2,605 high schools in California. Overall, 1,612 of our state’s public schools made the list. A school’s success was determined by a variety of factors, including college readiness, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum and breadth, and graduation rates.

Charter Schools in U.S. News’ Top 100 Best High Schools in California

1. University High School (Fresno, #4)
2. Preuss School UCSD (San Diego, #9)
3. Hawthorne Math and Science Academy (Hawthorne, #10)
4. University Preparatory Academy Charter (San Jose, #13)
5. Pacific Collegiate Charter (Santa Cruz, #14)
6. KIPP King Collegiate High (San Lorenzo, #17)
7. Western Center Academy (Hemet, #18)
8. Lennox Mathematics, Science, and Technology Academy (Lennox, #25)
9. KIPP San Jose Collegiate (San Jose, #29)
10. Oakland Charter High (Oakland, #31)
11. Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana, #34)
12. Green Dot Animo Leadership High (Inglewood, #35)
13. Alliance Ted K. Tajima High School (Los Angeles, #37)
14. Stockton Collegiate International Secondary (Stockton, #38)
15. Alliance Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science (Los Angeles, #43)
16. Stockton Unified Early College Academy (Stockton, #45)
17. KIPP San Francisco College Preparatory (San Francisco, #47)
18. River Valley Charter (Lakeside, #51)
19. The O’Farrell Charter (San Diego, #56)
20. Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy (Arcata, #59)
21. Alliance Gertz-Ressler Richar Merkin 6-12 Complex (Los Angeles, #70)
22. Aspire Ollin University Preparatory Academy (Huntington Park, #76)
23. Alliance Huntington Park College-Ready Academy High (Huntington Park, #81)
24. Leadership Public Schools-Hayward (Hayward, #82)
25. Alliance Judy Ivie Burton Technology Academy High (Los Angeles, #86)
26. University Preparatory (Redding, #87)
27. Oakland Unity High (Oakland, #94)
28. Summit Shasta (Daly City, #96)
29. Leadership Public Schools (Richmond, #98)

The rankings also show that charter public schools are achieving incredible results for students and families in some of our state’s largest districts:

• Los Angeles: Alliance College-Ready Schools, fresh off their Hart Vision win for Southern California School of the Year, make up four of the top ten high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
• Oakland:Seven of the top ten performing high schools in Oakland Unified School District are charter schools.
• San Diego:Two of the top three high schools in San Diego Unified School District are charter schools.  
• Fresno:The top performing high school in Fresno Unified School District is a charter public school, University High School.

We want to congratulate every charter school in our state that made the rankings list! You are offering more students, regardless of background or zip code, opportunities to receive a quality education, proving along the way that charters work!

Photo credit: University High School