U.S. News & World Report is known for its rankings of high schools and colleges, but for the first time ever it’s also released data and rankings for elementary and middle schools.
After crunching numbers for more than 80,000 public schools serving students from kindergarten through grade eight, the news outlet announced its 2022 Best K-8 Schools this month, and we spotted a few from Orange County as we scrolled through California’s top-rated campuses.
Jack L. Weaver Elementary in the Los Alamitos Unified School District was the highest ranked local elementary school, coming in at No. 19 statewide. Oxford Academy, which serves grades seven through 12 in the Anaheim Union High School District, ranked No. 4 among California middle schools.
According to U.S. News, its methodology for K-8 schools focused on two areas: math and reading proficiency, or how well students perform on state assessments, and math and reading performance, or how well they perform compared to expectations.
California has the most ranked elementary schools on the list with 5,534, followed by Texas (4,446), New York (2,211), Florida (2,128) and Illinois (2,038). California also has the most ranked middle schools with 2,319.
Testing data comes from the 2018-19 school year, before the pandemic disrupted student assessments.
To search the U.S. News & World Report K-12 directory of more than 102,000 preschools, elementary, middle school and high schools, visit www.usnews.com/education/k12.