Two high schools in the Austin Independent School District have earned places on the Newsweek list of ‘Best High Schools in the Country.’ The schools are among the Newsweek list of 500 public high schools, comprising only six percent of the public schools in the United States. The selection is based on how hard school staff members work to challenge their students with advanced-level courses.

The Austin schools and their rankings are as follows:

The rankings are based on six components: graduation rate (25%), college matriculation rate (25%), and Advanced Placement tests taken per graduate (25%), plus average SAT/ACT scores (10%), average AP/IB scores (10%), and AP courses offered per graduate (5%).

(For more information, see http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/19/the-best-high-schools-in-america.html.)