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These are the top high schools in Central Florida. Here’s how they rank

Miami school tops the list

Edgewood Jr./Sr. High School (Image: Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today) (Florida Today 2020)

Florida is considered among the top states for education, and several of its public high schools rank among the best in the country, according to U.S. News.

The ranking looks at factors like graduation rate, college readiness, and scores on state assessments.

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While the School for Advanced Studies in Miami and Pine View School in Osprey rank as No. 1 and 2 for the state, respectively, multiple schools in Central Florida also rank fairly high.

Regionally, Westshore Junior/Senior High School in Melbourne ranks as the best public high school, sitting at No. 4 for the state and No. 43 for the country.

The full ranking for the state is as follows:

State RankSchoolCityCountyNational Rank
1School for Advanced StudiesMiamiMiami-Dade3
2Pine View SchoolOspreySarasota13
3Archimedean Upper Conservatory Charter SchoolMiamiMiami-Dade41
4Westshore Junior/Senior High SchoolMelbourneBrevard43
5Marine Academy of Science and TechnologyNorth MiamiMiami-Dade46
6Suncoast Community High SchoolRiviera BeachPalm Beach70
7Edgewood Junior/Senior High SchoolMerritt IslandBrevard74
8Stanton College Preparatory SchoolJacksonvilleDuval76
9Design and Architecture Senior High SchoolMiamiMiami-Dade86
10Jose Marti Mast 6-12 AcademyHialeahMiami-Dade87

Breaking it down further, the top 10 ranked public high schools in each Central Florida county are as follows:


BREVARD COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
14Westshore Junior/Senior High SchoolMelbourne100%97.3
27Edgewood Junior/Senior High SchoolMerritt Island100%97.1
391Cocoa Beach Junior/Senior High SchoolCocoa Beach91%56.3
4115Satellite Senior High SchoolSatellite Beach95%44.9
5130Viera High SchoolViera98%43.8
6229Titusville High SchoolTitusville86%37.3
7241Melbourne Senior High SchoolMelbourne92%32.0
8254Merritt Island High SchoolMerritt Island96%30.9
9294Odyssey Charter SchoolPalm Bay97%14.0
10309Space Coast Junior/Senior High SchoolCocoa84%27.8

FLAGLER COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
1318Matanzas High SchoolPalm Coast94%19.5
2334Flagler-Palm Coast High SchoolPalm Coast90%23.0

No other Flagler County schools were ranked


LAKE COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
1156East Ridge High SchoolClermont98%49.2
2172Lake Minneola High SchoolMinneola98%48.8
3339South Lake High SchoolGroveland96%33.4
4358Eustis High SchoolEustis96%29.4
5373Mount Dora High SchoolMount Dora97%26.6
6387Tavares High SchoolTavares94%27.5
7430Leesburg High SchoolLeesburg87%24.5
8463Umatilla High SchoolUmatilla89%26.8
9497Lake Virtual FranchiseEustis71%2.9

No other Lake County schools were ranked


MARION COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
1230West Port High SchoolOcala94%30.4
2278Forest High SchoolOcala94%25.3
3307Vanguard High SchoolOcala88%27.7
4499Dunnellon High SchoolDunnellon91%12.6
5516Lake Weir High SchoolOcala85%15.7
6/7539-618Belleview High SchoolBelleview87%N/A
6/7539-618North Marion High SchoolCitra80%N/A

No other Marion County schools were ranked


ORANGE COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
120Orlando Science Middle High CharterOrlando99%81.1
244Winter Park High SchoolWinter Park99%68.5
352Timber Creek High SchoolOrlando99%59.6
462Lake Nona High SchoolOrlando100%60.6
585William R. Boone High SchoolOrlando98%57.1
695Windermere High SchoolWindermereN/A58.3
7131Cornerstone Charter Academy High SchoolBelle Isle99%41.8
8133West Orange High SchoolWinter Garden97%46.1
9140Freedom High SchoolOrlando100%62.5
10143Olympia High SchoolOrlando98%52.2

OSCEOLA COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
129Osceola County School of ArtsKissimmee100%76.9
255Professional and Technical High SchoolKissimmee99%59.7
3167New Dimensions High SchoolKissimmee99%31.7
4199Celebration High SchoolCelebration94%45.2
5268Harmony High SchoolHarmony95%37.3
6272St. Cloud High SchoolSt. Cloud97%38.0
7368TohopekaligaKissimmee97%35.2
8391Gateway High SchoolKissimmee88%30.4
9394Osceola Virtual Franchise (Secondary)St. Cloud98%N/A
10425Poinciana High SchoolKissimmee93%29.1

POLK COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
180Polk State College Collegiate High SchoolLakeland100%22.4
2118McKeel Academy of TechnologyLakeland100%33.5
3288George W. Jenkins Senior High SchoolLakeland97%33.5
4332Lake Wales Senior High SchoolLake Wales91%25.9
5338Lakeland Senior High SchoolLakeland88%24.6
6388Discovery High SchoolLake Alfred97%17.1
7398Bartow Senior High SchoolBartow96%16.7
8459Lake Gibson Senior High SchoolLakeland95%22.3
9461Winter Haven Senior High SchoolWinter Haven92%15.3
10464Mulberry Senior High SchoolMulberry91%22.0

SEMINOLE COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
146Hagerty High SchoolOviedo98%56.5
267Crooms Academy of Information TechnologySanford100%43.5
373Oviedo High SchoolOviedo99%49.4
4127Lake Brantley High SchoolAltamonte Springs95%52.2
5129Lake Mary High SchoolLake Mary97%49.2
6139Winter Springs High SchoolWinter Springs97%46.5
7145Lyman High SchoolLongwood97%48.5
8150Seminole High SchoolSanford91%48.9
9159Lake Howell High SchoolWinter Park98%47.2
10223Seminole County Virtual FranchiseLake Mary100%N/A

SUMTER COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
1110Villages Charter SchoolThe Villages100%46.5
2325South Sumter High SchoolBushnell91%29.3
3470Wildwood Middle/High SchoolWildwood89%11.2

No other Sumter County schools were ranked


VOLUSIA COUNTY
County RankState RankSchoolCityGraduation RateCollege Readiness
1106Spruce Creek High SchoolPort Orange93%53.0
2260Seabreeze High SchoolDaytona Beach92%29.6
3270New Smyrna Beach High SchoolNew Smyrna Beach96%24.8
4284University High SchoolOrange City92%31.6
5305DeLand High SchoolDeLand96%30.0
6315Atlantic High SchoolPort Orange92%27.5
7350T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High SchoolPierson91%30.4
8365Mainland High SchoolDaytona Beach88%21.9
9419Deltona High SchoolDeltona97%16.8
10444Pine Ridge High SchoolDeltona91%15.2

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