Jackson Free Press

U.S. News & World Report has named Murrah High School in Jackson a Silver Medal school in the magazine's latest list of America's Best High Schools. Murrah was the only school in the state and one of 461 high schools in the nation to earn the Silver Medal designation, which is based on how well schools prepare students for college. No Mississippi schools were among the 100 selected as Gold Medal schools, the highest level.

"This recognition is proof positive of the great work that I see every day at Murrah High School," Murrah's principal Frederick Murray said in a statement. "We are tremendously excited to learn that of the 40 schools identified in the state of Mississippi, we are classified as the only Silver Medal winner. This classification validates the fact that we are living up to the goals of our college growing culture motto: 'College Not If but Where.Ҕ

The magazine's ranking methodology has three steps. First, it sorts schools by determining whether they outperform statistical expectations, based on their percentage of low-income students. Of those schools, only those whose black, Latino and low-income students outperform their peers in the state make it to the final cut. Finally, the magazine ranked the remaining schools based on the percentage of 12th graders taking Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams and the percentage passing an exam.

Thirty-nine Mississippi high schools received Bronze Medal honors, including Pearl and Pisgah High Schools in Rankin County.