Mt. Lebanon named highest-ranked Pittsburgh-area high school in national listing

Mt. Lebanon was the highest-ranked Pittsburgh-area school in a U.S. News and World Report listing of the country’s best public high schools.

The list, released last week, assessed more than 24,000 public high schools across the country. The majority of the schools, 18,000, were ranked on several performance-related factors: college readiness, state assessment scores, underserved student performance, college-in-high school curriculum opportunities and graduation rate.

Here is a breakdown of what each factor entailed:

• College readiness — the proportion of seniors who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam;

• State assessment scores — cumulative scores on state-mandated exams;

• Underserved student performance — cumulative scores on state-mandated exams among students who are Black, Hispanic or from low-income households;

• College-in-high school curriculum — the proportion of seniors who took and earned a qualifying score on AP and IB exams in multiple subject areas;

• Graduation rate — the proportion of freshmen who graduated after four academic years.

Here are the top 15 schools in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area:

1. Mt. Lebanon

2. Pine-Richland

3. Peters Township

4. Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) 6-12

5. South Fayette Township

6. Upper St. Clair

7. Fox Chapel Area

8. North Allegheny

9. Quaker Valley

10. Hampton

11. Neshannock

12. Freeport Area

13. Thomas Jefferson

14. West Allegheny

15. Franklin Regional

Mt. Lebanon High School also ranked No. 7 statewide and No. 433 nationwide.

Other area schools outside the top 15 include:

• Penn-Trafford, 16

• Pittsburgh Allderdice, 18

• Norwin, 21

• Avonworth, 27

• Beaver Area, 28

• Bethel Park, 30

• Springdale, 33

• Riverview, 37

• Hempfield Area, 42

• Shaler Area, 43

• North Hills, 44

• Kiski Area, 48

• Gateway, 49

• Chartiers Valley, 61

• Derry Area, 64

• Southmoreland, 65

• Greater Latrobe, 66

• Plum, 68

• Burrell, 71

• Ligonier Valley, 72

• Leechburg Area, 96

• Highlands, 97

• Penn Hills, 98

• Woodland Hills, 99