Severna Park High Tops in Baltimore Region

can place a gold medal on the shelf next to its Blue Ribbons thanks to the U.S. News and World Report's fourth edition of the Best High Schools rankings released on Tuesday.

According to the website, Severna Park High ranked eighth among the top 10 in the state and 211th nationally.

A high school must be awarded a national gold or silver medal by the news magazine to be eligible for state ranking.

Severna Park High came in above the national average for college readiness with a 59 percent score. College readiness is based on those who tested and passed the Advanced Placement (AP) exams.

For Severna Park High, 56 percent of students passed the exams (out of 68 percent of the school's population who took the exam).

Other academic indicators included algebra proficiency at 3.6 and English proficiency at 3.5.

"As you can imagine, SPHS is ecstatic to make this list and be so highly ranked.  We pride ourselves in our Tradition of Excellence. I am so proud of our hard working teachers and faculty/staff for their continued pursuit of academic endeavors," wrote Patrick Bathras, principal of Severna Park High in an email to Patch.

"It is a pleasure to serve as principal of this very high performing high school, being surrounded by so many talented students."

With an enrollment of 1,923 students and 86 full-time teachers, the school's student/teacher ratio of 22:1 is above the 16:1 national average, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The 2012 rankings include data on nearly 22,000 public high schools from 49 states and the District of Columbia. The methodology used by the news magazine is outlined on its website.