LT Named Among Nation’s Top 500 High Schools

In the latest Newsweek ranking of the top high schools in the nation, Lyons Township High has vaulted up to 428th nationwide and 23rd in the state of Illinois, an improvement of approximately 800 places from the school’s national ranking last year.

While the old formula for the popular rankings was based solely on AP/IB tests taken per student, the magazine changed its formula to also consider a number of other factors: student-teacher ratio, graduation rate, percent of students college-bound and average SAT score.

Lyons Township scored a “Newsweek Score” of 0.200, with a student-teacher ratio of 18-1, a 93 percent graduation rate, 1.3 AP/IB tests taken per student and 90 percent of graduates immediately enrolling in college. (The school’s average SAT score was not provided.)

“We’re quite pleased, obviously,” said LT District 204 superintendent Tim Kilrea. “Our staff and students work very hard and it’s always nice to be recognized in a publication like this.

“And you can’t have that without a community that supports you. It’s great for our community and it’s wonderful for LT, and the credit really goes to our students.”

“It’s something we can certainly be proud of,” added LT Community Relations Coordinator Jennifer Bialobok. “It shows our continued effort to show what’s best for all students. But we always try to keep perspective. It’s one ranking on one list, and that certainly doesn’t make or break a school. But we’re happy to make the list.”

For those enamored of the Lions’ rivalry with the Hinsdale Central Red Devils, however, the news is less good: Hinsdale Central placed a whopping 69th nationally and third in Illinois, behind only Northside College Prep (24th) and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (37th) and first among all Illinois public schools.

Other Chicagoland west-suburban schools in the national top-500 included Riverside-Brookfield (194th), York Community (257th), St. Charles North (385th) and St. Charles East (#470).

The top-rated school in the listing was the School of Science and Engineering Magnet in Dallas, Texas. It scored a 2.874 “Newsweek Score” with a 21-1 student-teacher ratio, a 100 percent graduation rate, 17.2 AP/IB tests per student, 100 percent of graduates college-bound and an average SAT score of 1786.

For the full list of schools, visit Newsweek's site.