Photo: Belmont High School.

It something special when you’re in the top 100th of 1 percent.

And Belmont High School has some serious credentials when it comes to producing smart kids. For the umpteenth time, Belmont High was named a gold medal school by US News & World Report in its annual report of the best of the 21,000 public high schools in the United States. Only 2.5 percent of schools nationwide receives the gold standard. 

Belmont High was ranked 213th in the country and 8th in Massachusetts. The school has been slipping a few places each year; it reached its zenith in 2009 when Belmont was the 100th best high school. In 2014, the rank was 151st and last year, 200th.

But according to an analysis of the report, it’s not that Belmont is slipping educationally but rather it is the surge of specialized charter schools that emphasize high-level study and test taking with a select base of pupils that are jumping passed the local high school. 

In the analysis of the US and state, Belmont is grouped with test schools such as Boston Latin and  charter school. Regarding “open enrollment” high schools – in which all students in the district attend – Belmont ranks third behind Medfield Senior High and Hopkinton High and just in front of Lexington High (which Belmont trailed last year) and Dover-Sherborn Regional High. 

According to the ranking, a little more than seven out of ten students takes at on average four Advanced Placement tests with nearly all of them passing at least one AP test. Nearly all the pupils at the High School have tested proficient or advanced in English and math. The school does lag behind nearly 80 percent of Massachusetts high schools in terms of student/teacher ratio at 17 to 1. 

For the second year running, Belmont stands out in a new category of the analysis. In STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and math) education, Belmont repeated its 103rd US ranking with students, outpacing some of the same test and charter schools ranked higher than the Concord Avenue school. 

Photo: Belmont High School ranked “Best” High School by USN&WR.

The grades are in for this year and Belmont High School, once again, is receiving a gold star.

For the sixth-year running, Belmont High has been named by US News & World Report as one of the best high schools in the country, according to the latest edition of the annual review of schools across the country.

This year, the 9th-12th grade school is ranked 200 out of 21,000 public schools surveyed by the magazine, earning a “gold” medal based on students performance on state assessment tests and how well the students are prepared for college.

(Here is the full methodology on ranking schools.)

According to the ranking, seven out of ten students takes at least one Advanced Placement course while attending Belmont High, with nearly all the pupils proficient or advanced in English and math. The school does lag behind nearly 80 percent of Massachusetts high schools in terms of student/teacher ratio at 16 to 1. 

When looking at schools with “open enrollment” – in which all residents are accepted – Belmont is the second-highest ranked high school in Massachusetts, trailing only Lexington High School (194th nationally).

Taking out charter, magnet, test, academic achievement and other schools which limit admissions, Belmont is one of the few “regular” high school that can claim a top 250 ranking in this year’s report.

Belmont outpaces some of the test schools as the Concord Avenue school achieved a 103rd ranking for top schools in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.

Last year, the organization ranked Belmont 151st among all high schools nationally and third state-wide. In 2009, Belmont High was named the 100th best US public high school.