Poplarville High School was given a bronze medal and ranked as one of the nation’s highest performing schools by the U.S. News and World Report.

The bronze ranking is based on if the school’s state testing scores of typical and less advantage students are above average, according to the U.S. News and World Report website.

A bronze medal is awarded if the school meets performance standards, but doesn’t offer Advanced Placement courses or its College Readiness Index is less than the 18.17 median needed to rank as silver. The College Readiness Index is based on a school’s participation rate in AP courses, stated the U.S. News and World Report website.

“A good high school education is critical to prepare our future workforce,” said Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report in a press release. “The 2014 Best High Schools rankings are designed to help families understand the increasing public school options available to them.”

The U.S. News and World Report compiles a similar ranking lists of colleges each year.

According to a press release, 500 high schools earned gold medals, 1,519 earned silver medals and 2,688 earned bronze medals. Poplarville is the only school in Pearl River County to receive a ranking by the U.S. News and World Report.

According to the U.S. News and World Report’s profile on Poplarville High School, the school has 634 enrolled students, 14 percent are minorities.

Seventy-eight percent of the school’s students are advanced or proficient in algebra and 71 percent are advanced or proficient in English. The profile also states that 68.1 percent of the school’s disadvantaged students are proficient on state exams and that 79.7 percent of non-disadvantaged students are proficient.

Sixty-six percent of Poplarville High’s students are considered economically disadvantaged, states the U.S. News and World Report’s profile. Economic disadvantage is based on the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

According to a press release, 4,707 high schools in the nation were ranked as high scoring.

Calls to Poplarville School District officials for comment on the ranking were not returned by press time.