And I thought college rankings were bad...

We do not officially rank high schools; we know some schools have different things to offer than others, but there is no list in the Admissions Office that says "School X is better than School Z."

Newsweek, however, decided they were going to rank the best high schools in the United States. You can find the article here, and I am pointing you to it for some of the general conclusions they have drawn, not necessarily to look up schools in your area to see how they're doing (though I know doing that is likely inevitable--I looked up my high school).

Newsweek found that smaller schools tended to give students more individual attention and help them better grow as academics and individuals during their four years of high school. I do not think a smaller school is automatically better than a larger school, but I think there may be some truth to that conclusion.

Take, for example, the First Year of Studies at Notre Dame. Instead of "throwing" students into a large college environment with little direction, first-year students are instead placed in a program with other incoming students. They are then "divided" into even smaller groups and assigned to a specific counselor who helps students make a quick adjustment to college while also choosing a major, a career path, classes, etc.

Smaller high schools may not automatically equal a better education, but I think, if you look at the situation in general, the personal and individual attention given to students--at least here at Notre Dame--is a benefit.