A local high school continues to earn high marks. U.S. News & World Report released its 2026-27 list of top-ranked public high schools Aug. 18, with Evansville’s Signature School retaining its spots at No. 2 nationally, No. 1 in Indiana, and No. 1 in U.S. charter schools.
The only Southwestern Indiana institution to make any list, Signature School has consistently ranked high on the national education report’s lists since 2008, six years after the open-admission, tuition-free institution opened as the Hoosier State’s first public charter school. It’s also the fourth consecutive year that Signature School has claimed the No. 2 spot on the nation’s Best High Schools list.
“It’s firing on all cylinders,” LaMont Jones Jr., managing editor of education for U.S. News & World Report, tells Evansville Business. “On all the metrics we use when we rank public high schools, they’re doing literally all the right things. It’s something the city should be proud of, the state should be proud of. It’s a huge feather in the cap.”
Partnering with global nonprofit social science research firm RTI International, U.S. News & World Report annually ranks nearly 18,000 high schools, but it reviews more than 27,000. Using data from state reports, college-level exams, and the number of successful graduations, schools are evaluated based on college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, and graduation rate.
Other area high schools that made the national list are Castle in Newburgh (1,509), North (2,228), Central (3,449), F.J. Reitz (4,209), New Tech Institute (4,259), Harrison (6,240), Boonville (8,128), and Benjamin Bosse (11,375).
“We are delighted by the news,” Signature School Executive Director Jean Hitchcock tells Evansville Business. “It’s a terrific validation of the commitment and hard work of our teachers and staff, students, and families. And, as a school with a deep connection to the wider Evansville community, we are excited to help put the city on the map on the national level.”
Signature School, Jones says, “tied for first nationally in graduation rate and state assessment proficiency, and it was 25th in college curriculum breadth. It scoring so high in those categories (is) a testament that there’s great education right there in Evansville, Indiana.”
Interestingly, Jones — who, like the U.S. News & World Report, is based in Washington, D.C. — has regional ties. Before earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism and government from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Jones attended and graduated from Owensboro High School in 1984. As a young journalist, he wrote for the Messenger-Inquirer newspaper before leaving Owensboro for WKU, as well as during breaks from his college studies. In 2013, he was inducted into the Owensboro Public Schools Hall of Achievement.
He calls seeing a school from his home region on the list “refreshing. This shows you don’t have to be in a bustling metropolis. You don’t have to be in a coastal state. There’s exceptional education everywhere in the U.S.”
In addition to its annual high school rankings, U.S. News & World Report’s education department, managed by Jones, also offers college and graduate school rankings, plus advice articles, non-college options, and a scholarship finder. All content is free to read.
“We feel like it’s a public good. It’s a great starting point to find accurate information in one place. We want this information to be available for anybody to access anywhere, no matter where you live, how much money you have — it’s available anywhere,” Jones says. “Everyone is owed a good secondary education to go to college or get a good job and contribute to their town, their family, and society.”
