Three Forsyth high schools ranked among top 25 in state

Students Morgan Cox, Kristina Kovynev and Callie Leach work on a biology assignment inside Lisa Oswald's biology class at Lambert High School. The top traditional high school in the Atlanta area, Lambert High in Forsyth County, pushes its students to take college-level classes and succeeds despite its sizeable 2,000-plus students.

Credit: Johnny Crawford, jcrawford@ajc.com

Credit: Johnny Crawford, jcrawford@ajc.com

Students Morgan Cox, Kristina Kovynev and Callie Leach work on a biology assignment inside Lisa Oswald's biology class at Lambert High School. The top traditional high school in the Atlanta area, Lambert High in Forsyth County, pushes its students to take college-level classes and succeeds despite its sizeable 2,000-plus students.

Three Forsyth County high schools were ranked among the top 25 in the state, according to U.S. News & World Report.

South Forsyth High School came in No. 16 in the state. The school, which was founded in 1989, also has the highest rate of minority student enrollment.

Lambert High School and West Forsyth High School were ranked No. 22 and No. 24, respectively.

Criteria used to determine the rankings included how the school fared in comparison to others in its state, the academic performance of the school’s black, Hispanic and low-income students, its graduation rate and how students performed in Advanced Placement or the International Baccalaureate program. The schools were ultimately ranked by how "college ready" U.S. News & World Report gauged their students to be.

Here's are Forsyth County's top high schools:

South Forsyth High School

State ranking: No. 16

National ranking: No. 513

Lambert High School

State ranking: No. 22

National ranking: No. 691

West Forsyth High School

State ranking: No. 24

National ranking: No. 709