PORTLAND, Ore. — The trudge through the halls of high schools has begun, with Oregon requiring masks and holding lunch outside and making many other pandemic-related adjustments.
Which means it's time to take a look at which institutions, no matter how classes and activities are held, look to rise to the top of Oregon's best high schools roster.
The PBJ took a look at Pittsburgh-based Niche.com's grades to ascertain a loose ranking of the state's top high schools, be they public or private.
According to Niche.com, 13 of the school's on the researcher's list achieved "A-plus" grades.
Whereas the grades (they're listed on the slides above) are tabulated from several factors, the rankings are based on overall scores the schools tallied, per Niche.com's calculations.
Those scores are based on "academic and student life data" collected by the U.S. Department of Education, as well as test scores, college data and other ratings.
The academics grade, based on state tests and SAT/ACT scores, among other factors, comprises 60% of the grade. Culture and diversity and teacher scores each comprise 10%.
The rest of the score consists of categories that comprise 2.5% apiece: Clubs and activities, health and safety, resources and facilities and sports.
Among this year's crop of best high schools:
- Portland schools occupy eight of the 25 spots. However, just one of them is a public high school.
- The Portland suburbs contributed 11 schools to the list while the region's exurbs contributed three.
- The furthest school from Portland on the list is in Medford.
- The lowest student-to-teacher ratio — a key figure that appears on our slides — on the Niche.com list is six to one. One school in the top 25, though, has a 25 to 1 ratio.
- The list breaks down nicely between public and private schools, with 12 from the public side represented compared to 13 private institutions.
Click on the slides above to learn whether your preferred high school made this year's list.
