Which school is better? How much better?
From state-issued school grades to Duval County’s dilemma over which schools to close, the warm weather is putting pressure on school administrators and everyday parents trying to ensure their children receive a quality education.
U.S. News & World Report, a master of highly regarded rankings for everything from universities to hospitals, uses a 100-point scoring system to identify standout schools in the public education system. While the corresponding list of elementary schools will likely change this fall, the magazine’s high school rankings aren’t expected to change until 2025.
These are the top 10 high school scorers for the class of 2024 in Northeast Florida.
Stanton College Preparatory School
Duval County’s top academic magnet school, located at 1149 W. 13th St. in Jacksonville, earned 99.69 points in a scoring system that combines graduation rates, math, reading and science proficiency and rates of taking (and passing) Advanced Placement exams.
Paxson School of Advanced Studies
The magnet school, located at 3239 Norman E. Thagard Boulevard in Jacksonville, received a score of 98.93 on the U.S. News index, thanks in part to a 99 percent graduation rate and 100 percent AP exam participation rate.
Darnell Cookman Junior/Senior High School
The school, which serves grades 6-12 and is located at 1701 N. Davis St. in Jacksonville and is also known as Darnell Cookman Medical School, received 98.87 points for its high school program.
Pontevedra High School
The school, located at 460 Davis Park Road in Ponte Vedra Beach, received a score of 98.13, the highest score in St. Johns County and the highest score for a traditional public school in Northeast Florida.
Douglas Anderson School of Art
The arts magnet school, located at 2445 San Diego Road in Jacksonville, received a 98.05 point average and had a 100 percent graduation rate. Though the magnet school focuses on fostering the humanities, U.S. News rated Douglas Anderson as having 93 percent of students who are science-literate.
Samuel W. Wolfson High School
The Duval magnet high school, located at 7000 Powers Ave. in Jacksonville, which U.S. News gave 97.51 points, advertises itself as helping students “find the perfect balance between academics and lifelong pursuits” online. The school, like Stanton, Paxson and Terry Parker high schools, includes an International Baccalaureate degree program.
Creekside High School
The school, located at 100 Knights Lane in fast-growing northwest St. Johns County, has a vocational academy focused on fields such as engineering and emerging technology. It received a U.S. News score of 96.31, the second-highest score in the county.
Allen D. Nease High School
A fixture in northeast St. Johns County since the early 1980s, the traditional school, located at 10550 Ray Road in Ponte Vedra Beach, has a 95 percent graduation rate and a 94.74 point rating on the U.S. News score sheet. The school also includes academies for engineering, communications, hospitality and Naval JROTC, as well as the International Baccalaureate.
Fleming Island High School
Clay County’s top-ranked high school received a score of 93.06 in the U.S. News ratings. In the just over 20 years that Fleming Island High School has been open, the school at 2233 Village Square Parkway has a 98 percent graduation rate.
Bartram Trail High School
The school, located at 7399 Longleaf Pine Parkway in St. John’s, has a U.S. News score of 92.79 and a graduation rate of 97 percent. The school has academies for information technology, business and design.
