Metro Academic and Classical High School in the St. Louis Public Schools district is the only school in the state of Missouri to make the top 100 list in Newsweek magazine’s annual ranking of the top public high schools in the U.S.
Up 26 spots (to the No. 96 slot) from Newsweek’s rankings in 2008, Metro Academic and Classical High School serves as a college preparatory school that admits students based on the merits of academic performance.
Course offerings at Metro include the coveted International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, a variety of Advanced Placement (AP) courses, SAT and ACT preparation, and a rigorous curriculum.
Newsweek ranked the top 1,500 public high schools by taking the total number of AP, IB or Cambridge tests given at a school in May and dividing by the number of seniors graduating in May or June.
To qualify for the list, schools had to have at least half of its senior class
take at least one IB, AP or Cambridge test in their junior year and at least one IB, AP or Cambridge test in their senior year.
Less than 6 percent of the nation’s approximately 27,000 public high schools qualified for the Newsweek rankings.
Missouri placed 13 schools on the magazine’s list. Other high schools in the
St. Louis region making the list are Ladue Horton Watkins (256), Clayton (368), Lafayette (552), Marquette (691), Lindbergh (697), Rockwood Summit (984) and Parkway West (1426).
“In my 16 years of education, Metro has continued to provide a high quality
and consistent style of instruction that remains unsurpassed,” said Paula
Knight, executive director of Curriculum and Instruction for St. Louis Public Schools.
“Metro’s educators set high expectations of its students which has allowed the school to attract a diverse group of students that represents not only the city’s superior students, but the county’s advanced student population as well.”
Since its inception in 1971 as an alternative high school with selected
enrollment, Metro has continued to provide high-quality instruction for its
diverse group of students. Metro’s students persist to a 100 percent commencement rate, marking the road to graduation with top scores on district and state tests.
Metro is home to numerous National Merit and National Achievement finalists, averaging two to four finalists yearly. Competitively high ACT and SAT scores produce mean scores exceeding both state and national means.