Three years ago, principal Dusty Johns set a goal for Boone High School to rank among the “Best High Schools” in the nation, contributing to U.S. News & World Report’s top public school list. For the 2017-2018 school year, 25 Central Florida high schools earned top rankings in the latest U.S. News & World Report list, including Boone.

Boone received #79 in Florida High Schools, #138 in Magnet High Schools and #951 in Best U.S. High Schools out of 28,813 public high schools across the nation.

Johns credits the ranking to the students, faculty and community.

“[I believe we earned the rankings] because we have the best teachers teaching our kids. Our kids are hard workers because their parents and teachers demand it. [And] our community is incredibly involved in supporting our success,” Johns said.

U.S. News & World Report utilizes a four-step process to determine the list. The first step discerns if each school’s students perform better than statistically expected for students in their respective state. If a school passes the first step, the second step assesses if low-income and minority students perform at or better than the state average. From there, schools must surpass a benchmark for graduation rate to fulfill Step 3. Finally, Step 4 measures which schools produce the best college-level achievement for the highest percentages of their students.

“Personally, I think Boone is a great place to learn because of the teachers. AP teachers especially, but really all of the teachers offer tutoring and do their best to make sure [students] succeed in their classes,” sophomore class president Ana Ciro said. “[Teachers are] very accessible to help students who may be struggling, they are understanding and helpful whether it’s questions about life or school.”

Earning a silver medal, Boone received a score of 82.4 on the State Test Performance Index and holds a 64 percent AP participation rate.

“Our kids challenge themselves in the most rigorous coursework possible. I could not be prouder of our teachers, kids and community,” Johns said.

By Caroline Casola

This is my second year on staff. I am a Dachshund connoisseur and love rewatching episodes of Arrested Development. You can catch me at the springs or at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

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