For the second straight year, Boothbay Region High School has landed in the top 10 of U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of Maine's best high schools, earning a silver medal from the national publication.

“We are so fortunate to have such supportive communities. Our schools and students are the beneficiaries of hard-working and supportive teachers, parents, and the communities at large,” BRHS Principal Dan Welch said.

Overall, Boothbay was ranked ninth, with top honors going to Yarmouth High School. The magazine uses a complicated aggregate with heavy emphasis given to student/teacher ratio and college preparedness. According to U.S. News, Boothbay has an 8:1 student to teacher ratio and is performing 88 percent better than other high schools  in preparing students for college.

While not news to many in the area, the honor comes a month after the Maine Department of Education identified the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District as “economically disadvantaged.” The designation results from the enrollment having a high number of students receiving free or reduced lunches. The CSD will receive $307,000 in additional state subsidy next year. The district received the designation previously for the 2013-14 fiscal year. The perception that living in an economically challenged area automatically  translates into compromised academic achievements isn’t the case, explained Welch. Like with most success stories, it’s a community effort.

“I hope that our communities can look at things like this award, along with being named an Apple Distinguished School for technology integration and the spike in our graduates matriculating to post secondary educational institutions, and feel assured that we have high quality schools here,” said Welch. “I attest our school's success to the fact that we have caring and supportive people at every level of participation. Like all schools we certainly face challenges and will work towards improving areas of need but I truly believe we have the right people involved to sustain and increase our success.”

According to its website, to produce the 2016 Best High Schools rankings, U.S. News & World Report teamed with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm.

RTI implemented the U.S. News comprehensive rankings methodology, which is based on the following key principles: that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show it is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators. Other Maine high schools honored included Brewer, Greely, Falmouth and Marshwood.