Hinsdale South is No. 34 on the Chicago Sun-Times list of the top 50 high schools in the Chicago area, which was released earlier this week.
Hinsdale South is just ahead of St. Charles East, Lincoln-Way East, and Evanston (Nos. 35, 36, and 37, respectively), and just behind Lake Zurich, Oak Park-River Forest, and Batavia (Nos. 31, 32, and 33).
The top three area high schools according to the Sun-Times—Northside College Prep, Payton College Prep, and Whitney Young—are located in Chicago. New Trier was No. 4, and District 86's other high school, Hinsdale Central, was No. 5 on the list.
The Sun-Times says rankings are based on 2012 reading and math ISAT and PSAE results of students at each school, measured against a state average.
"The rankings include percentiles, reflecting the percentage of Illinois students who scored the same as or worse than the average student at each ranked school," reads the full explanation of how the Sun-Times ranked the schools.
The Sun-Times also ranked elementary and middle schools, and two Burr Ridge schools made the those Top 50 lists.