CURRENT HIGH SCHOOL RANKINGS FROM U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
In this report:
DATA
• Data from U.S. News & World Report "Best High Schools" rankings for public high schools in Missouri (including charter and magnet) for the 2025-2026 school year, as well as data from that publication for previous years.
COMPARE LOCALLY
• How Rockwood's high school rankings compare to other local high schools.
FACTORS
• Specifically what led to the rankings.
CHECK YOUR SCHOOL
• A link to see the most current data.
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THIS YEAR
Here's what the U.S.News & World Report data shows about Rockwood's four high schools in 2025-2026:
LAFAYETTE #5 in Missouri
MARQUETTE #15 in Missouri
EUREKA #23 in Missouri
SUMMIT #61 in Missouri
CONTEXT
3 OUT OF 4 LOWER STATEWIDE, ALL 4 LOWER NATIONALLY
With those rankings this year, three of Rockwood's four high schools are ranked lower statewide than last year.
All four are ranked lower nationally.
All the rankings for each year in a moment.
COMPARE LOCALLY
How this year's rankings compare to other high schools around the area:
ROCKWOOD USED TO RANK HIGHER
As recently as 2019, the chart above would have looked very different.
Back then, all four Rockwood high schools ranked in the top 10 across Missouri:
#1, #3, #4, and #8
Today, only one is in the top 10:
#5, #15, #23, #61
ROCKWOOD SAYS
DATA
• Data from U.S. News & World Report "Best High Schools" rankings for public high schools in Missouri (including charter and magnet) for the 2025-2026 school year, as well as data from that publication for previous years.
COMPARE LOCALLY
• How Rockwood's high school rankings compare to other local high schools.
FACTORS
• Specifically what led to the rankings.
CHECK YOUR SCHOOL
• A link to see the most current data.
----------
THIS YEAR
Here's what the U.S.News & World Report data shows about Rockwood's four high schools in 2025-2026:
LAFAYETTE #5 in Missouri
MARQUETTE #15 in Missouri
EUREKA #23 in Missouri
SUMMIT #61 in Missouri
CONTEXT
3 OUT OF 4 LOWER STATEWIDE, ALL 4 LOWER NATIONALLY
With those rankings this year, three of Rockwood's four high schools are ranked lower statewide than last year.
All four are ranked lower nationally.
All the rankings for each year in a moment.
COMPARE LOCALLY
How this year's rankings compare to other high schools around the area:
 |
| Not pictured here: Additional districts ranked lower than Rockwood's high schools. |
ROCKWOOD USED TO RANK HIGHER
As recently as 2019, the chart above would have looked very different.
Back then, all four Rockwood high schools ranked in the top 10 across Missouri:
#1, #3, #4, and #8
Today, only one is in the top 10:
#5, #15, #23, #61
ROCKWOOD SAYS
Rockwood is still in the top 17% of Missouri schools, though, and top 28% nationwide, according to the district's recent Facebook post.
Note: The specific rankings we showed you are not in that post.
For more on how the district's transparency has been lacking, see our other report on this topic.
WHAT LED TO THE RANKINGS: DETAILS
DROPS IN MATH AT ALL 4 HIGH SCHOOLS
According to U.S. News & World Report, the drops in Rockwood's high school rankings this year came from, in part, a drop in Math proficiency:
MATH PROFICIENCY
At Lafayette, the percentage of students proficient in Math went down from 68% to 53%.
At Marquette it went down from 61% to 51%.
At Eureka, it went down from 55% to 41%.
At Rockwood Summit, it went down from 59% to 33%.
This is a good time to note that U.S. News & World Report rankings are always based on data from two years ago. So, the current school rankings are using data from 2022-2023.
YOU CAN CHECK
If you are interested in the latest data available, Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education posts that for each K-12 school here.
^ Use the drop down menus to find a school. Scroll down to section 16.
For more on how the district's transparency has been lacking, see our other report on this topic.
WHAT LED TO THE RANKINGS: DETAILS
DROPS IN MATH AT ALL 4 HIGH SCHOOLS
According to U.S. News & World Report, the drops in Rockwood's high school rankings this year came from, in part, a drop in Math proficiency:
MATH PROFICIENCY
At Lafayette, the percentage of students proficient in Math went down from 68% to 53%.
At Marquette it went down from 61% to 51%.
At Eureka, it went down from 55% to 41%.
At Rockwood Summit, it went down from 59% to 33%.
This is a good time to note that U.S. News & World Report rankings are always based on data from two years ago. So, the current school rankings are using data from 2022-2023.
YOU CAN CHECK
If you are interested in the latest data available, Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education posts that for each K-12 school here.
^ Use the drop down menus to find a school. Scroll down to section 16.
Note that U.S. News & World Report Math proficiency percentages are a combination of Algebra I and Algebra II.
Images of charts that show the specifics for all the schools are below.
FIRST: SUMMIT SPECIFICS
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT DOWN FROM #14 TO #61
Rockwood Summit's eye-opening drop statewide was about more than Math.
SUMMIT: U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
According to data from U.S. News & World Report:
The percentage of Rockwood Summit students who passed an AP exam dropped from 44% to 39%.
Reading proficiency dropped from 66% to 55%.
As we stated above, Math proficiency dropped from 59% to 33%.
Science, though, did improve. From 33% to 47%.
ONLY CURRENT DATA ACCESSIBLE
Note: You can still see this year's Summit screenshot on the publication's site, but you can no longer see the one from last year. That one is from our previous report.
Why: U.S. News & World Report replaces the previous year's data with the most current year's data. It also appears to re-use links. Example: A link from our report in 2022 now goes to the 2025 data.
So, taxpayers can't easily access previous years' data without posts like this one or without school districts being transparent about whether these rankings go up or down
Note: Last week, we asked Rockwood's director of Research, Evaluation and Assessment what happened at Summit. We'll update if the district provides any additional insight.
NEW INFO JUST IN
Hours after this post was published, Rockwood replied to our emailed question about what happened at Rockwood Summit.
COVID, THINGS ARE IMPROVING NOW
Although the reply never said specifically what happened at Summit, it pointed out that all students graduating in 2023 (the year the data for these rankings is from), had spent three of their high school years learning during Covid and post Covid.
The reply also mentioned improving performance at all the high schools since then, including at Summit. The full reply is at the bottom of this post.
PREVIOUS RANKINGS
Rockwood's rankings do fluctuate.
Because we have written about rankings each year, we have the previous rankings back to 2019:
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS FROM 2019 TO 2025
LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #1 MO #431 nationally
2020 #7 MO #533 nationally
2021 #8 MO #794 nationally
2022 #7 MO #387 nationally
2023 #9 MO #970 nationally
2024 #5 MO #517 nationally
2025 #5 MO #840 nationally
MARQUETTE HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #8 MO #947 nationally
2020 #9 MO #723 nationally
2021 #9 MO #876 nationally
2022 #10 MO #1,146 nationally
2023 #11 MO #1,079 nationally
2024 #11 MO #1,169 nationally
2025 #15 MO #1,680 nationally
EUREKA HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #4 MO #681 nationally
2020 #11 MO #892 nationally
2021 #20 MO #1,631 nationally
2022 #14 MO #1,281 nationally
2023 #27 MO #2,697 nationally
2024 #21 MO #1,984 nationally
2025 #23 MO #2,107 nationally
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #3 MO #621 nationally
2020 #10 MO #780 nationally
2021 #18 MO #1,445 nationally
2022 #16 MO #1,417 nationally
2023 #22 MO #2,393 nationally
2024 #14 MO #1,718 nationally
2025 #61 MO #4,868 nationally
Note: The 2024 rankings were made public in April of 2025, after a delay.
WHAT TEACHERS SAY
Teachers we talked to say they believe the drop in rankings is largely due to a couple of factors: constantly changing curriculum and teacher salaries that aren't competitive, meaning experienced teachers go elsewhere and fewer new teachers apply.
They also mentioned phones in the classrooms, which, new this year, is now against state law. (Scroll down to section 162.207).
Note: Rockwood's school board just voted this month to put a 45-cent levy increase on the November ballot, to pay teachers and staff more.
-------------------
SPECIFICS OF EACH ROCKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
LAFAYETTE #5 in Missouri.
Holding steady from last year at #5.
Nearly every category went up, but proficiency in Mathematics went down from 68% to 53%.
Note: Lafayette used to be ranked #1 in Missouri, back in 2019.
MARQUETTE #15 in Missouri.
Dropped from #11 last year.
The percentage of kids who took and passed AP exams went up.
Proficiency in Reading went up.
Proficiency in Math and Science went down.
Note: Marquette used to be ranked #8 in Missouri, back in 2019.
EUREKA #23 in Missouri
Dropped 2 spots last year, from #21.
EHS went up a bit in the percentage of kids who passed an AP exam.
Reading and science proficiency also went up.
Math proficiency went down from 55% to 41%.
Note: Eureka used to be ranked #4 in Missouri, back in 2019.
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT #61 in Missouri.
Dropped 47 spots from #14 last year.
A lower percentage of students took and passed AP exams.
Math dropped from 59% to 33%.
Reading went down from 66% to 55%.
Science went UP from 33% to 47%.
Note: Rockwood Summit used to be ranked #3 in Missouri, back in 2019, an overall drop of 58 spots.
NOT ABOUT WHY
Note: Pinpointing what may have caused Rockwood high schools to drop in rankings is not the purpose of this post. Instead, it is to share information and context that Rockwood did not share with the public when it celebrated these rankings.
LOCAL COMPARISON
U.S. News & World Report does not easily display comparisons by locality. You have to go through the whole list for Missouri. Rockwood doesn't provide it, either. That's why we went through Missouri schools and compiled a comparison into the graph at the top of this post.
Images of charts that show the specifics for all the schools are below.
FIRST: SUMMIT SPECIFICS
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT DOWN FROM #14 TO #61
Rockwood Summit's eye-opening drop statewide was about more than Math.
SUMMIT: U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
According to data from U.S. News & World Report:
The percentage of Rockwood Summit students who passed an AP exam dropped from 44% to 39%.
Reading proficiency dropped from 66% to 55%.
As we stated above, Math proficiency dropped from 59% to 33%.
Science, though, did improve. From 33% to 47%.
 |
| As seen in our previous report. |
 |
| Link to 2025 Rockwood Summit info in U.S. News & World Report ranking. |
Note: You can still see this year's Summit screenshot on the publication's site, but you can no longer see the one from last year. That one is from our previous report.
Why: U.S. News & World Report replaces the previous year's data with the most current year's data. It also appears to re-use links. Example: A link from our report in 2022 now goes to the 2025 data.
So, taxpayers can't easily access previous years' data without posts like this one or without school districts being transparent about whether these rankings go up or down
Note: Last week, we asked Rockwood's director of Research, Evaluation and Assessment what happened at Summit. We'll update if the district provides any additional insight.
NEW INFO JUST IN
Hours after this post was published, Rockwood replied to our emailed question about what happened at Rockwood Summit.
COVID, THINGS ARE IMPROVING NOW
Although the reply never said specifically what happened at Summit, it pointed out that all students graduating in 2023 (the year the data for these rankings is from), had spent three of their high school years learning during Covid and post Covid.
The reply also mentioned improving performance at all the high schools since then, including at Summit. The full reply is at the bottom of this post.
PREVIOUS RANKINGS
Rockwood's rankings do fluctuate.
Because we have written about rankings each year, we have the previous rankings back to 2019:
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT RANKINGS FROM 2019 TO 2025
LAFAYETTE HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #1 MO #431 nationally
2020 #7 MO #533 nationally
2021 #8 MO #794 nationally
2022 #7 MO #387 nationally
2023 #9 MO #970 nationally
2024 #5 MO #517 nationally
2025 #5 MO #840 nationally
MARQUETTE HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #8 MO #947 nationally
2020 #9 MO #723 nationally
2021 #9 MO #876 nationally
2022 #10 MO #1,146 nationally
2023 #11 MO #1,079 nationally
2024 #11 MO #1,169 nationally
2025 #15 MO #1,680 nationally
EUREKA HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #4 MO #681 nationally
2020 #11 MO #892 nationally
2021 #20 MO #1,631 nationally
2022 #14 MO #1,281 nationally
2023 #27 MO #2,697 nationally
2024 #21 MO #1,984 nationally
2025 #23 MO #2,107 nationally
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT HIGH SCHOOL
2019 #3 MO #621 nationally
2020 #10 MO #780 nationally
2021 #18 MO #1,445 nationally
2022 #16 MO #1,417 nationally
2023 #22 MO #2,393 nationally
2024 #14 MO #1,718 nationally
2025 #61 MO #4,868 nationally
Note: The 2024 rankings were made public in April of 2025, after a delay.
WHAT TEACHERS SAY
Teachers we talked to say they believe the drop in rankings is largely due to a couple of factors: constantly changing curriculum and teacher salaries that aren't competitive, meaning experienced teachers go elsewhere and fewer new teachers apply.
They also mentioned phones in the classrooms, which, new this year, is now against state law. (Scroll down to section 162.207).
Note: Rockwood's school board just voted this month to put a 45-cent levy increase on the November ballot, to pay teachers and staff more.
-------------------
SPECIFICS OF EACH ROCKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
LAFAYETTE #5 in Missouri.
Holding steady from last year at #5.
Nearly every category went up, but proficiency in Mathematics went down from 68% to 53%.
Note: Lafayette used to be ranked #1 in Missouri, back in 2019.
 |
| Lafayette as seen at U.S. News & World Report |
Dropped from #11 last year.
The percentage of kids who took and passed AP exams went up.
Proficiency in Reading went up.
Proficiency in Math and Science went down.
Note: Marquette used to be ranked #8 in Missouri, back in 2019.
 |
| Marquette as seen at U. S. News & World Report |
Dropped 2 spots last year, from #21.
EHS went up a bit in the percentage of kids who passed an AP exam.
Reading and science proficiency also went up.
Math proficiency went down from 55% to 41%.
Note: Eureka used to be ranked #4 in Missouri, back in 2019.
 |
 |
| Eureka as ssen at U.S. News & World Report |
Dropped 47 spots from #14 last year.
A lower percentage of students took and passed AP exams.
Math dropped from 59% to 33%.
Reading went down from 66% to 55%.
Science went UP from 33% to 47%.
Note: Rockwood Summit used to be ranked #3 in Missouri, back in 2019, an overall drop of 58 spots.
|
| As seen in our previous report. |
|
| Link to 2025 Rockwood Summit info in U.S. News & World Report ranking. |
NOT ABOUT WHY
Note: Pinpointing what may have caused Rockwood high schools to drop in rankings is not the purpose of this post. Instead, it is to share information and context that Rockwood did not share with the public when it celebrated these rankings.
LOCAL COMPARISON
U.S. News & World Report does not easily display comparisons by locality. You have to go through the whole list for Missouri. Rockwood doesn't provide it, either. That's why we went through Missouri schools and compiled a comparison into the graph at the top of this post.
OTHER RANKINGS
Other sources of high school rankings have other methodology and may have different results. As an example, Niche includes culture, and student and parent reviews, in their methodology. Two of Rockwood's four high schools rank in the top 10 in Missouri according to Niche this year, rather than only one, according to U.S. News & World Report (which does not include culture and reviews).
HOW RANKINGS ARE DETERMINED
Click here for more on how U.S. News & World Report determines its rankings.
Other sources of high school rankings have other methodology and may have different results. As an example, Niche includes culture, and student and parent reviews, in their methodology. Two of Rockwood's four high schools rank in the top 10 in Missouri according to Niche this year, rather than only one, according to U.S. News & World Report (which does not include culture and reviews).
HOW RANKINGS ARE DETERMINED
Click here for more on how U.S. News & World Report determines its rankings.
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ROCKWOOD'S FACEBOOK POST IN AUGUST
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ROCKWOOD'S REPLY TO WHAT HAPPENED AT ROCKWOOD SUMMIT:
Covid.
And, things are improving.
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| The red lines indicate information specifically about Rockwood Summit. |