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Niche, a company that researches and compiles information on schools, has released its 2016 rankings of the Best Public High Schools in the country, a list that includes charters and magnet schools.

Despite looking at more than 100,000 schools and ranking them in areas like academics, teachers, student culture, diversity, resources and facilities, not a single school from LA Unified, the second largest district in the nation, cracked the top 25. Nor did any school from California.

What makes the methodology of the rankings so unusual is that Niche also considers parent and student opinions in online reviews. So the list doesn’t necessarily mean California’s schools aren’t performing well, but it does indicate that Californians aren’t very happy with their schools.

“We believe that the quality of a school or district should be measured, at least in part, by the parents and students who actually go there,” Niche stated while explaining the methodology of the list.

Perhaps that California’s per-pupil spending is ranked 42nd in the nation or that its student-to-teacher ratio is dead last or that two-thirds of its students cannot meet basic standards in math accounts for why Californians are down on their schools.

Coming in at No. 26 on the list is LA Unified’s very own Granada Hills Charter High School. A handful of other California schools are in the top 100, but no others from LA Unified.

The company also released a list of Best School Districts, and making the top 100 from California was San Marino Unified, Palo Alto Unified, Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified, Acalanes Union High School District, Piedmont City Unified and Carmel Unified.

There are some other interesting lists also worth checking out, like Best Teachers, Best Places to Teach, College Readiness, Most Diverse and Safest School Districts.

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