Lake Forest High School landed at No. 277 nationally and 11th among Illinois public high schools in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings, released Tuesday, Aug. 18.
The ranking arrives three days before the Scouts' football season opener against Deerfield on Friday, Aug. 21.
U.S. News evaluated approximately 27,000 public high schools and ranked nearly 18,000 of them, according to Patch. The rankings use data from the 2023-2024 school year and were produced in partnership with research firm RTI International.
Six criteria drive the scores: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance and graduation rate. College readiness carried the heaviest weight at 30% in U.S. News's prior-year methodology; Patch reports the same six criteria apply to the 2026-27 edition.
LFHS, with an enrollment of 1,359 students, outranked several North Shore neighbors. New Trier Township High School in Winnetka came in at No. 324 nationally, while Deerfield High School, the Scouts' Week 1 opponent, landed at No. 387, 110 spots behind Lake Forest.
Illinois's top five public high schools all cracked the national top 100: Northside College Prep (No. 30), Payton College Prep (No. 54), Lane Tech (No. 80), Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (No. 88) and Jones College Prep (No. 99).
Eyes on Friday
The Scouts open a compressed 2026 football season Friday, Aug. 21, against Deerfield. The IHSA expanded its playoff brackets this year, adding 16 teams per class and pushing the regular season start earlier than usual.
Head coach Chuck Spagnoli named seniors Charlie Hornberger, Rowdy Greenlees and Jack Burger as team captains. Spagnoli told The Athletic Scout on Aug. 10 that the three "are all wonderful kids and obviously passionate about what we do and how we do it."
Burger, a wide receiver, is back after breaking his leg in Week 1 against Deerfield last August and missing six games. The Scouts missed the playoffs in 2025 and enter the new season motivated to return to the postseason.
Kickoff against Deerfield is Friday, Aug. 21.
