The 2014 US News and World Report: Best High Schools in America awarded Tyrone Area High School a bronze medal for the third year.

The only other area schools ranked were Altoona and Bellwood-Antis, with both also receiving bronze medals.

The US News rankings included 691 schools in Pennsylvania, including public, charter, magnet and cyber schools. Seven schools in the state received gold medals. Forty-nine schools received silver medals, and 113 received bronze medals.

“I am very pleased that TAHS has been awarded the bronze medal again this year,” said Tyrone Superintendent Cathy Harlow, “this award shows that we are meeting the challenges of providing a quality education to all of our students.”

“I am very proud of our staff and students for this great accomplishment,” said Tyrone High School Principal Thomas Yoder, “It demonstrates that hard work, dedication, and a focus on what is important really does pay off in the end.”

Approximately twenty four percent of the schools in PA received an award for excellence.

Of the three award winning school districts in the county, Tyrone has the highest reading proficiency at 88%. Altoona was second with 74%, and BAHS was third with 70%.

Tyrone tied with Altoona at 68% math proficiency, with Bellwood beating both schools in math with a 72% proficiency score.

“While we have made significant improvements in our math scores, I believe math is an area that we need to continue to focus our efforts.  This year we instituted double algebra classes and I am anxious to see the results of that initiative,” said Harlow.

“Hopefully, with our additional efforts we can achieve a silver medal next year,” added Harlow.

Factors included in the rankings were reading and math proficiency as measured by state testing as well as student-teacher ratio and rate of achievement by disadvantaged students.  The full methodology used in the rankings can be seen here.