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Two San Diego area high schools among best in California for 2023, study says

(File: Getty)

(NEXSTAR) – After the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional learning and left schools scrambling for instructors and bus drivers – all while juggling lesson plans and health protocols – one company has sorted through the data to determine the top high schools in California for 2023.

On Tuesday, Niche, a site that combines ratings from students, parents and alumni with quantitative data, released its rankings for both public and private high schools.

The vast majority of schools chosen for their academic excellence data and high marks from students, alumni and parents, are from two metro areas – greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The top public school in the state for yet another year, according to Niche, is Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto. Here are the top 10 schools for 2023:

2023 RankingSchoolCity2022 Ranking
1Henry M. Gunn High SchoolPalo Alto, CA1
2Troy High SchoolFullerton, CA6
3Canyon Crest AcademySan Diego, CA2
4California Academy of Mathematics & ScienceCarson, CA4
5Orange County School of the ArtsSanta Ana, CA7
6Palo Alto High SchoolPalo Alto, CA5
7Riverside STEM AcademyRiverside, CA27
8Saratoga High SchoolSaratoga, CA3
9University High SchoolIrvine, CA10
10Los Altos High SchoolLos Altos, CA14
(Niche)

As for private high schools in California, Harvard-Westlake School jumped up two spots to the top rank for 2023:

2023 RankingSchoolCity2022 Ranking
1Harvard-Westlake SchoolLos Angeles, CA3
2The College Preparatory SchoolOakland, CA1
3The Nueva SchoolSan Mateo, CA2
4Stanford Online High SchoolN/A4
5Crystal Springs Uplands SchoolHillsborough, CA6
6Castilleja SchoolPalo Alto, CA5
7Flintridge Preparatory SchoolFlintridge, CA7
8The Bishop’s SchoolLa Jolla, CA8
9The Harker SchoolSan Jose, CA17
10Polytechnic SchoolPasadena, CA9
(Niche)

One thing parents of California public school students won’t have to worry about this year is in-school meals. All public schools are offering free meals in the 2022-2023 school year statewide as part of the Universal Meals Program, which expands on the federal National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

The new program is a change from the past when students could only qualify for free meals based on criteria such as the poverty level in the school’s surrounding area, the parents’ income taxes and the ZIP code in which the student lived.

See Niche’s website for the complete list of schools and more information about the methodology.