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Nevada's Top 25 High Schools

West Career & Technical Academy and Advanced Technologies Academy are the top high schools in Nevada.

West Career & Technical Academy and Advanced Technologies Academy are the top high schools in Nevada.

Advanced Technologies Academy and West Career & Technical Academy are numbers one and two on Niche Media's list of the best high schools in Nevada.

Notice something about those schools?

How about these schools:

  • Truckee Meadows Community College High School
  • Academy of Art Careers and Technology
  • Las Vegas Academy of the Arts
  • Southwest Career and Technical Academy
  • College of Southern Nevada High School West
  • East Career Technical Academy (East Tech)

Yep, each one of these schools is a magnet or charter school. And each one of these schools is in the top 10 of Niche Media's list. In fact, only two of the top 10 schools in Nevada are not magnet or charter schools - and they're both in Reno.
The number of charter and magnet schools on the list was what surprised Mark Tressler the most about Nevada high schools.

"In a lot of other areas, charter schools will be sprinkled throughout...but in Nevada, and the Las Vegas area in particular, the top of our list is really dominated by charter schools," said Tressler, who is the vice president of product at Niche.

This should surprise no one who has kids in Las Vegas. But did you know that the highest ranked high school in Las Vegas that is not a charter or magnet school is Green Valley High School? It comes in number 11 on the list. Coronado - the second best high school that isn't a charter or magnet school in Las Vegas - comes in 23 on the list. (Clark High School, which is part regular public and part magnet, is listed 14 - solely on the basis of its magnet school.)

The highest school that is not charter or magnet on the list is Reno High School. It comes in number 3. Washoe County also boasts Galena High School, which comes in 10th on the list.

But how do these schools stack up against schools across the country?

Tresser says that the top 25, at least, stack up pretty well. Niche decides its  rankings by letter grades, A+ to D-.

"We use grades to bucket schools into cohorts so it's easier to compare across different areas."

An A+ rating means the school is in the top 2.5 percent of schools in the country. Two schools in Las Vegas have that A+ ranking: Advanced Tech and West Tech. The next 12 schools have A ratings, which, according to Niche, represents the top 10 percent of schools in the country. The rest of the list all comes out in the A- range - meaning they fall into the top 20 percent of schools in the country.

Nationally Advanced Tech ranks 43rd on Niche's list of top magnet schools, and West Tech ranks 47th. Truckee Meadows Community College High School comes in 86th on the list; and the Academy of Art Careers & Technology comes in 91st.

 

Mark Tresser, vice president of product, Niche Media

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Carrie Kaufman no longer works for KNPR News. She left in April 2018)