Communications Arts High School is once again among the best of the best. Newsweek magazine ranked the high school 17th in the nation in its annual report of the best public high schools in America. (Last year, the school was ranked 26th.)

Health Careers, Jay, Clark, O’Connor, Warren, Marshall, and Holmes high schools also made the list of “Best High Schools 2009” ranking at No. 233, No. 437, No. 500, No. 1,044, No. 1,107, No. 1,337, and No. 1,438, respectively. All high schools made significant improvements in their rankings compared to last year.

High schools are rated based on the number of Advanced Placement tests taken by students.

Newsweek ranked a total of 1,478 high schools, which represent the top 6 percent of the nation's 27,000 public high schools, according to the magazine.

Communications Arts was one of only two high schools in San Antonio to make the top 100. In addition, only three other high schools in Texas were ranked higher than Communication Arts.

"We've made a very specific effort over the past couple of years to increase the number of students taking AP classes and tests," Superintendent John Folks said. "It's gratifying to see our efforts have had an impact because AP courses and tests do a great job of preparing students for college."

The magazine ranks high schools by taking the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests given in 2008 and dividing that by the number of graduating seniors. All schools that achieved a ratio of at least 1.000 - which means there were an equal number of graduates and tests given - are listed on the Newsweek web site.