1,000 Schools That Made the Grade: America's Best High Schools

Good news: despite shrunken state coffers, the quality of public schools is by many measures improving.  Who is leading the charge? Check out this year's rankings, which highlights the best 1,000 public high schools in the nation—the ones that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready grads. At these schools, 91 percent were accepted to college, with an average AP score of 3.4 (out of 5 )—21 percent above the 2.8 average for public-school students.