Mountainside and Sunset high schools landed in Oregon's top 25 in the 2026-27 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings released Wednesday, Aug. 19, while Westview placed 40th statewide.

For Bethany families with students heading back to class Aug. 25, the numbers offer a benchmark of how their neighborhood schools performed. Mountainside ranked 23rd in Oregon and No. 1,403 nationally. Sunset followed one spot behind at No. 24. Westview, the largest of the three by senior-class size, came in at No. 40.

The gap between them is narrow.

All three trail two smaller Beaverton School District programs that dominate the metro-area list. International School of Beaverton took the No. 1 spot in the Portland metro rankings, with Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering at No. 2, according to U.S. News.

How the three compare

Mountainside and Sunset both offer International Baccalaureate coursework, with IB participation rates of 37% and 38%, respectively. Westview runs an Advanced Placement program; 47% of its students participate in AP courses.

Senior-class enrollment varies: Westview's 12th-grade class of 594 students is the largest, followed by Sunset at 469 and Mountainside at 426. All three schools report that 50% of their students are economically disadvantaged.

What the rankings measure

U.S. News evaluates schools on six weighted factors: college readiness (30%), state assessment proficiency (20%), state assessment performance (20%), college curriculum breadth (10%), underserved student performance (10%) and graduation rate (10%). The rankings draw on data from the 2021-22 through 2023-24 school years and were produced in partnership with research firm RTI International.

Nearly 18,000 public high schools earned a ranking out of roughly 27,000 reviewed nationwide.

District context

The Beaverton School District enrolls approximately 37,891 students across 57 schools. Within the district's 11 high schools, Mountainside ranks third, Westview fifth and Sunset sixth, behind the two specialized programs at the top.

The Portland metro rankings span both Oregon and Washington state schools. Lake Oswego Senior High placed third in the metro area, followed by Riverdale, Grant, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, Lakeridge, Cleveland, Lincoln and West Linn to round out the top 10.

Families can view full school profiles at usnews.com. The first day of school for BSD students is Tuesday, Aug. 25.