Best High Schools in Illinois

U.S. News & World Report named Stevenson as the fifth-best high school in Illinois and 150th overall in the country in its annual rankings released April 22. SHS is the highest-rated open-enrollment high school in Illinois, behind four Chicago selective-enrollment magnet schools in the Chicago Public Schools system

Peter 2014-04-25 2 min read

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U.S. News & World Report named Stevenson as the fifth-best high school in Illinois and 150^th overall in the country in its annual rankings released April 22. SHS is the highest-rated open-enrollment high school in Illinois, behind four Chicago selective-enrollment magnet schools in the Chicago Public Schools system

“It never gets old,” Stevenson spokesman Jim Conrey said of the high school’s most recent accolade.

“It’s always a great honor, when we’re recognized by a publication of U.S. News’s stature,” Conrey said. “We think it validates what we’re doing here at Stevenson, and we hope the community feels the same way.”

This placement comes only weeks after the Washington Post named Stevenson as its third-best high school in the state. While the Post judges only by participation in the International Baccalaureate advance-placement program, U.S. News looks at that as one of several criteria.

Top 10 Illinois High Schools

1. Northside College Prep – Chicago
2. Walter Payton Prep – Chicago
3. Jones College Prep – Chicago
4. Whitney Young Magnet – Chicago
5. Stevenson- Lincolnshire
6. Deerfield
7. Hinsdale Central
8. Lane Tech
9. Hersey – Arlington Heights
10. Highland Park

Illinois has many schools ranked in 2014 among the U.S. News Best High Schools, including 19 gold medal schools, 53 silver medal schools and 59 bronze medal schools.

The magazine reviewed 31,242 U.S. public high schools; 131 Illinois schools made the rankings.

In a statement that accompanied the lists, U.S. News public relations coordinator Sophia Sherry wrote that their methodology seeks to grade “how well high schools serve all of their students, not just those who are planning to go to college.”

The magazine found Northside College Preparatory High School to be the state’s finest, and listed it as no. 36 in the nation.

As for some of Stevenson’s neighbors, Deerfield High School was ranked sixth in Illinois (217th nationally), and Highland Park High School placed 10th in the state (293rd nationally). New Trier High School did not make the Prairie State’s top 10, according to U.S. News.

“It’s not as if there’s a huge separation between the schools,” Conrey said. “If anybody’s moving to this area, they couldn’t go wrong with any of those schools, or with us. It’s really not about, ‘Where do we stack up against School A or School B,’ it’s really about what we’re doing for our students, and our taxpayers.”