Oak Park and River Forest High School placed No. 540 out of nearly 18,000 ranked public high schools in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings, released Tuesday, Aug. 18. That puts the 3,276-student school in roughly the top 3% nationally.
The ranking also places OPRF among the top 25 public high schools in Illinois, landing 24th on that list. Among suburban peers, New Trier Township High School in Winnetka came in higher at No. 324 nationally. Northside College Preparatory in Chicago topped the Illinois list at No. 30.
How the scores work
U.S. News evaluated roughly 27,000 eligible public high schools and ranked nearly 18,000, working with research firm RTI International to crunch data from the 2023-24 school year. Each school receives a composite score from zero to 100 based on six weighted indicators:
- College Readiness (30%): The share of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam.
- State Assessment Proficiency (20%): Raw student performance on state-required tests.
- State Assessment Performance (20%): How a school's scores compare with what U.S. News predicted given its demographics.
- College Curriculum Breadth (10%): The share of seniors who took and passed multiple AP or IB exams.
- Underserved Student Performance (10%): Outcomes specifically among Black, Hispanic and low-income students.
- Graduation Rate (10%): The proportion of students who entered ninth grade in 2020-21 and graduated by 2024.
College readiness carries the most weight. For OPRF, that means AP and IB participation rates among seniors are the single biggest driver of the school's national standing.
OPRF's recent performance
The school's trajectory has been positive. OPRF's 2025 Illinois State Report Card, released in March 2025, showed the school's summative index score continuing to rise, with the freshmen on-track-for-graduation rate at 89.8% for 2024.
LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News, said in the announcement that the rankings "empower families with the valuable data and transparency they need to help make the best educational choices for them."
District 200 has not issued a public response to the ranking. Families can view OPRF's full school profile and indicator-level scores at usnews.com.
