America's Best High Schools 2009

Do you know where the best schools in your state are? With home prices falling, this might be a good time for parents to start looking for a home close to a great school. We have some suggestions. BusinessWeek.com worked with GreatSchools, a San-Francisco-based nonprofit organization that rates schools and provides an online community for parents, and came up with the best high schools in each state in a number of different categories. We identified the best overall public high school in terms of test scores, the best public high school with an economically-disadvantaged population, and the Best Improved public high school. Here are the best high schools in the biggest states in the U.S.

Editor's Note: The Best Overall Academic Performance, Best Low Income, and Best Improved schools were selected based on the most recent available state math, reading, and science standardized test scores for public schools. Math and reading were weighted twice as heavily as science. The schools with the "Best Overall Academic Performance" had the best weighted test scores. The "Best Low Income" school in each state had the highest weighted test score of the most economically disadvantaged schools. The "Best Improved" school is the school in each state that had the biggest weighted test-score improvement compared to the previous year.

California

Best Overall Academic Performance: Gretchen Whitney High School
Town: Cerritos
GreatSchools rating: 10/10

Best Low Income: Preuss School UCSD
Town: La Jolla
GreatSchools rating: 8/10

Best Improved: Palo Alto High School
Town: Palo Alto
GreatSchools rating: 9/10

Texas

Best Overall Academic Performance: Debakey High School for Health Prof
Town: Houston
GreatSchools rating: 10/10

Best Low Income: KIPP Academy Middle School and High School
Town: Houston
GreatSchools rating: 10/10

Best Improved: Benji's Special Educational Academy Charter School
Town: Houston
GreatSchools rating: 2/10

New York

Best Overall Academic Performance: Stuyvesant High School
Town: New York
GreatSchools rating: N/A

Best Low Income: Bedford Academy High School
Town: Brooklyn
GreatSchools rating: N/A

Best Improved: Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning
Town: New York
GreatSchools rating: 4/10

Florida

Best Overall Academic Performance: Pine View School
Town: Osprey
GreatSchools rating: 10/10

Best Low Income: Pensacola High School
Town: Pensacola
GreatSchools rating: 6/10

Best Improved: Bartow Senior High School
Town: Bartow
GreatSchools rating: 7/10

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