Skyline High School is now the highest-ranked traditional public school in Utah, climbing from No. 3 to No. 2 on U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools list released Tuesday, Aug. 18.
The only school ahead of the Millcreek high school is Karl G. Maeser Preparatory Academy, a public charter in Lindon. Skyline posts a 75% Advanced Placement participation rate and runs Granite School District's only International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Students started the new school year Aug. 12.
The ranking jumped one spot from last year. Beehive Science and Technology Academy, which held the No. 1 position for five consecutive years, dropped to No. 11 this cycle, opening the door for Maeser and Skyline to move up.
What drives the ranking
U.S. News evaluates schools on six weighted factors, according to the Salt Lake Tribune:
- College readiness: 30%
- State assessment proficiency: 20%
- State assessment performance: 20%
- College curriculum breadth: 10%
- Graduation rate: 10%
- Underserved student performance: 10%
College readiness carries the most weight. Seventy-five percent of that score comes from the share of seniors who earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam. The remaining 25% measures how many seniors sat for an exam at all.
Skyline's edge in that category is structural. The school offers all three college-credit pathways available to Granite District students: AP, Concurrent Enrollment and IB. Most other district high schools offer only AP and CE, according to Granite School District counseling resources.
U.S. News data lists Skyline's 12th-grade enrollment at 531 students. The building's total capacity is 2,200, per district records.
Granite District's other ranked school slips
Olympus High School in Holladay, the district's other school that appeared in last year's Top 10, fell from No. 9 to No. 20. The 2026-27 Top 10 now includes five traditional public schools and five charters statewide.
What families should know
The rankings use data from the 2023-24 school year, collected and analyzed by RTI International for U.S. News. That means the scores reflect student performance from two years ago, not the current school year.
Principal Robert McDaniel leads Skyline into its second week of classes. The Millcreek Times was unable to reach McDaniel or Granite School District for comment before publication.
Granite's next major public meeting is the Truth in Taxation hearing on the proposed 11.2% property tax increase, scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 18, at 6 p.m.
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