Both of Brentwood’s high schools ranked in the top 6% of public high schools in the United States, according to a list published Monday by Newsweek magazine.
 

Brentwood High School ranked 213 and Ravenwood High ranked 469 on the magazine’s annual list of the nation’s best public high schools.
 

The criteria used by the magazine’s researchers includes the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year divided by the number of seniors graduating in May or June. 
 

The ranking counts all tests taken by all students, not just seniors, but divides the number of tests taken by the number of graduating seniors so small schools won’t be at a disadvantage.
 

The list includes the Challenge Index, which its creators say is designed to honor schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests.
 

Jay Matthews, the reporter who co-authored the study with Newsweek researcher Amy Novak, says, “It does not work with schools that have no, or almost no, average students. The idea is to create a list that measures how good schools are in challenging all students and not just how high their students' test scores are.”
 

Brentwood High School Principal Kevin Keidel is appreciative of the ranking, but says it is not as important as the indicator.

 “We look at whether we are continuing to improve,” Keidel said Monday. “We are proud of the number of kids who are willing to take the most challenging courses, which are the AP courses.”
 

Keidel thinks it’s great that so many kids want to be challenged.
 

 “They know it will help them in the long run,” he said. “Our improved index means that more kids are being successful,” he said. Ravenwood's principal, Dr. Pam Vaden, could not be reached for comment.

Brentwood High moved up one point from 214 in 2009, while Ravenwood’s ranking dropped from 405 in 2009. The ranking’s creators, however, stress that to gauge a school’s progress, its index is more important than its ranking.
 

 “Many schools drop in rank each year because there is more competition to be on the list, but at the same time improve their ratio of tests to graduating seniors,” Matthews says on the Newsweek website.
 

At BHS, the numbers do back that up.
 

 “They aren’t just taking the test. There are more kids being successful at it, “Keidel says. “Last year 83% of our kids who took AP tests scored a 3 or higher [out of possible 5].”
 

Two Tennessee schools, Hume Fogg Academic Magnet and Martin Luther King Magnet in Nashville, made the top 100 with rankings of 41and 54 respectively. Though public, both have selective entry requirements.
 

The No. 1 school on the list? The School for the Talented and Gifted at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Magnet Center (commonly referred to as TAG or TAG Magnet) in Dallas.