The Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District recently announced that all four of its high schools have been named to the U.S. News & World Report’slist of 2019 Best High Schools.

All four Edinburg CISD schools were listed among the top half of the best high schools in the nation.

According to U.S. News, this year there is a new, revamped edition of the rankings, which includes data on more than 23,000 public high schools nationwide. The list includes 17,245 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia – up from last year's 2,700 schools.

For the third consecutive year, Vela High School made the list of Best High Schools.

“We are honored to make the list for the third year in a row,” Vela High School Principal Sylvia Ledesma said. “We believe our hardworking students, teachers, parents, administrators and the community are why we are ranked among the best in the state and in the nation.”

Additionally, there are 1,446 Texas schools honored in the rankings – out of 2,059 high schools in the state.

“Edinburg North High School is proud to recognize the efforts of all of our exceptional students.  Each student strives in performing to the best of his or her ability. ENHS takes great pride in acknowledging the accolades of these scholars, artists and athletes,” Edinburg North High School Principal Mark Micallef said. “We thank our parents for their constant support and commitment to their children and entrusting ENHS with their child’s education.”

“The recognition by the U.S. News & World Report is indicative of all the hard work from everyone in our school community.  I'm honored to work along such great faculty and students that make Edinburg High School a great place for teaching and learning,” said Edinburg High School Principal Yesenia Molina. “It is truly a rewarding feeling to know that the accomplishments of our staff and students are noted and recognized at the national level. The work is totally worth it! Bobcat Pride!”

“We are pleased to be among the top schools in the state and will continue to raise the bar for the success of our students,” Economedes High School Principal Jesus Mata said. “Our students, teachers, staff and parents are leading the way and making our school community very proud.”

The schools were ranked on six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates. Specifically, college readiness measures participation and performance on AP and IB exams.

"Our mission with the Best High Schools rankings has always been to educate families about the schools in their district," said Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News. "By evaluating more schools than ever before, the new edition expands that focus so all communities can see which schools in their area are successfully serving their students – including historically underserved populations."

The new methodology assigns weights to the six factors and then produces an overall score on which the ranking is based – as compared to the previous methodology, which involved a four-step process in which the final step used college readiness as the sole basis to determine a school's numerical rank.

"We enhanced the methodology to provide an even more comprehensive ranking that is easier to understand and, therefore, more useful to parents and educators," said Robert Morse, chief data strategist at U.S. News. "Now, each school's score correlates to its national percentile – a school with a score of 70 is in the 70th percentile and ranks higher than 70% of schools. Going forward, this methodology will allow for intuitive comparisons of a school's performance year after year."