Every year Newsweek publishes a list of the top 500 high schools in the United States, and this year Lafayette placed 75th. Lafayette is the only Rockwood School District school to make the list.

Other area schools also made the list. These schools include: Clayton High School (42), Fort Zumwalt West High School (410), Kirkwood High School (362), Lindbergh High School (343), Parkway West High School (432) and Valley Park High School (257).

“It’s a wonderful recognition of all of our hard work and effort that our staff and students have put into the school,” Principal John Shaughnessy said.

The schools are assessed on different criteria to determine how well the school prepares students for college. The list includes different statistics about the school like college readiness, graduation rate, college bound and poverty. Lafayette’s has a 85.1 percent college readiness, 100.0 graduation rate, 100.0 college bound and 12.4 percent poverty.

“I think it speaks volumes for the quality of work that we put out. It’s a great honor and certainly something we all should be proud of,” Shaughnessy said.

To see the full list use the following link http://www.newsweek.com/high-schools/americas-top-high-schools-2016