Four Dysart Schools Named Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 09/12/2023

DYSART SCHOOLS - All four of Dysart Unified School District’s high schools have been named 2023-2024 Best High Schools by U.S. News & World Report based on earning high national and local rankings. This includes Dysart High School, Shadow Ridge High School, Valley Vista High School, and Willow Canyon High School. 

“We are honored to have our high schools recognized for the great work they are doing to prepare students for college and career success,” said Dr. John Croteau, Dysart Schools Superintendent. “Our students have so many opportunities to explore, learn and excel in our schools, and this recognition shows that Dysart is truly giving students a top notch education.”  

Selected schools surpass anticipated benchmarks, have high graduation rates, and have students who achieve high scores on state assessments for math, reading and science. College readiness through performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams is also taken into account as well as how underserved students perform. Only schools that earn a national ranking in the top 40% qualify for this honor among the nearly 18,000 public high schools that were evaluated.  

The Best High Schools accolade complements the other achievements of these high schools, including being named A+ Schools of Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation. Dysart serves over 8,000 students across its four high school campuses.  

About 2023-2024 Best High Schools

The 2023-2024 edition of Best High Schools includes a numerical ranking of nearly all public high schools nationwide – almost 18,000 of them – based on multiple sources of objective data. The Best High Schools rankings are available exclusively on USNews.com and include data on a variety of factors, such as enrollment, student diversity, participation in free and reduced-price lunch programs, in addition to graduation rates and the results of state assessments. U.S. News worked with RTI International, a global research firm, to implement the comprehensive ranking methodology. U.S. News doesn’t collect data directly from high schools; all data comes directly from official third-party sources. AP and IB data come directly from the College Board and International Baccalaureate, respectively, for use in the rankings. The state assessment data and graduation rates are from each state, and other data comes from the U.S. Department of Education.