Top 10 SouthCoast Public High Schools

Massachusetts has always placed a major emphasis on the importance of education. Not only are we home to one of the most prestigious universities in the world, but we launched the idea of free public school for all children.

In April of 1642, we were the first British colony in what would later be the United States to pass a law requiring that children be taught to read and write. The law was passed specifically to make sure people were able to read the Bible and the laws in the colony.

According to MassMoments.com, five years later, not satisfied that parents were taking the law seriously enough, a law was passed requiring each town creates a public school.

Our state's education system got a big head start, so it should be no surprise that many of Massachusetts' public high schools are so highly ranked when compared to other high schools across America.

Looking at the latest rankings from U.S. News and World Report's annual listing of high schools across the country, there are a number of local high schools that rank relatively high on the national list.

U.S. News and World Report used the following criteria to rank the high schools: '

• College readiness is 30 percent of the rank.
• Math and reading proficiency is 20 percent of the rank.
• Math and reading performance is 20 percent.
• Underserved student performance is 10 percent.
• Advanced Placement exam scores are 10 percent.
• The graduation rate is 10 percent.

Here's a list of the Top 10 SouthCoast public high schools according to U.S. News and World Report. See where your high school falls on the list.