Northwestern High School ranked 73rd in South Carolina in the U.S. News and World Report Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday, the highest placement among the three Rock Hill Schools high schools and a jump of 19 spots from the previous edition.
South Pointe High School ranked 82nd and Rock Hill High School ranked 121st. U.S. News listed Northwestern first, South Pointe second and Rock Hill High third within the district, which it identifies by its state designation, York 03.
The order at the top of the district changed. In the previous edition South Pointe ranked 62nd statewide, ahead of Northwestern at 92nd and Rock Hill High at 115th.
Where the numbers separate the three
Northwestern posted the district’s strongest college readiness index score at 23.1, followed by Rock Hill High at 21.2 and South Pointe at 17.1. U.S. News weights that measure more heavily than any other. It counts how many students sit for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams and how many pass them, and it says nothing about students who never take one.How the rankings were built
U.S. News evaluated around 27,000 public high schools this year and ranked nearly 18,000. Schools were scored on six indicators, including performance on state required assessments, graduation rates, results among underserved students, the breadth of college level coursework offered and outcomes on AP and IB exams. The company worked with the research firm RTI International on the methodology and used data from the 2023 and 2024 academic year, meaning the classes measured have already graduated. The figures came from the College Board, the International Baccalaureate organization and state education agencies. No parent surveys or reputation scores factored in. The evaluation pool grew by roughly 3,000 schools from the previous edition, which complicates comparison of national placements across years. State placements are drawn from a fixed set of South Carolina schools and are more directly comparable. The full South Carolina list and the individual school profiles are posted at usnews.com.Sign up for our Sunday Spectator. Delivered to your inbox every Sunday, with all the news from the week.
Thomas Hyslip
Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
