All six comprehensive high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District; Canyon, Golden Valley, Hart, Saugus, Valencia and West Ranch, have been ranked in the top 12 percent of public high schools in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

The publication’s Best High Schools Rankings, released Apr. 27, 2021, compared the Hart District’s high schools against nearly 24,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia using six factors: college readiness; math and reading proficiency; math and reading performance; underserved student performance; college curriculum breadth; graduation rate.

“This achievement by our comprehensive high schools just shows the level of professionalism we have at our sites,” said Mike Kuhlman, superintendent of the Hart School District. “The dedication our staff shows to educating their students and preparing them for the life they choose inspires me every day.”

The rankings of the Hart District schools are:

– West Ranch High School (#631 nationally, top 3%, #88 in California)

– Saugus (1152 nationally, 170 in California)

– Hart (1753/259)

– Canyon (1900/283)

– Valencia (2000/294)

– Golden Valley (2463/375).

The rankings noted AP participation rate, graduation rate and college readiness. By virtue of being a middle college high school, Academy of the Canyons does not offer AP classes, which goes against them on the magazine’s ranking system, but instead their students take college classes concurrently with their high school coursework. Every student in the Hart School District has the opportunity to take concurrent classes at College of the Canyons.