Arizona’s most challenging high schools

PHOENIX — High schools in Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler and Phoenix are some of the 16 schools in Arizona that have made it onto the Washington Post‘s list of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools.”

The list is based on the number of college-level tests given at the school the previous calendar year, including Advance Placement and divided by the number of graduates that year.

The number one spot for the most challenging high school in Arizona went to BASIS Tucson North High School, which also ranked number 10 nationally.

Schools in Tucson took the top three spots in the list with the percent of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career.

BASIS Tucson North was followed by Accelerated Elementary and Seconday, University High, Sonoran Science Academy, Northland Prep Academy, Basha, Catalina Foothills, Hamilton, Pinnacle and Verrado, respectively.

Approximately 1,900 schools were looked at nationwide for the study.

There were no private schools among the top 16 list.