PINEDALE – If you’re moving to Pinedale and you’re researching the school district, chances are you’ve already come across it: a 2017 study by U.S. News and World Report that ranked Pinedale High School sixth from the top among Wyoming high schools.

Only top-ranked Sheridan, followed by Central High School in Cheyenne, Powell High School, Star Valley High School in Afton and Buffalo High School rank higher, according to the U.S. News and World Report study.

Of course the immediate question a parent wants to know is, how did the news organization come up with that ranking?

For starters, U.S. News says it calculated a “College Readiness Index” based on participation rate in Advanced Placement courses and exams and the percentage of students who passed at least one AP exam. Some 20 percent of Pinedale 12^th-graders took at least one AP course at some time in their high school careers, according to the 2014-2015 data. About 54 percent of Pinedale students taking AP courses passed at least one exam, and 11 percent of 12^th-graders did. Based on that index, the news organization ranked districts as winning gold, silver or bronze medals in the study.

U.S. News and World Report also looked at how Pinedale students did on tests, finding that 64 percent testing proficient or advanced in math, and 45 percent testing proficient or advanced in English.

Other factors the organization noted:

The student body was made up of 47 percent males and 53 percent females. Minority enrollment makes up 11 percent of the district’s student population, and economically disadvantaged students make up 12 percent. However, when it comes to test scores, 56.3 percent of disadvantaged students are proficient, compared to 54.4 percent of non-disadvantaged students.

Administrators for the school district were delighted that Pinedale High School ranked high in the study, but they were not surprised.

Superintendent Jay Harnack pointed out that Pinedale does even better if measured against other districts solely on the basis of ACT scores, which measure readiness for college. Pinedale’s composite scores year by year outpace those of most other districts in the state.

Harnack said the high school staff under the direction of High School Principal Brian Brisko has worked extremely hard to create an environment with high expectations and outstanding instructional practices.

“They consistently perform at a high level and have done so for a number of years,” Harnack said in an email. “PHS has been in the top 10 in ACT scores statewide four of the last five years, scoring second in the state in 2015 and 2017.”

Brisko said Pinedale students have traditionally tested well, thanks to an emphasis on academics at home and in school. He said high school teachers and the elementary and middle school teachers who helped prepare the students for high school deserve a huge share of the credit, saying they teach bell to bell to help students achieve.

Jasper Warembourg, a teacher of ninth-grade English, Advanced Placement English and humanities, said it’s true that the rigor and additional work that students do in advanced placement courses help truly prepare them for college, as the U.S. News and World Report study noted. He said AP courses have the added benefit that those who do well can get college credits and skip the first level of some college courses. But he said there is a lot more that goes into the culture of academics in Sublette County School District No. 1.

“We have the best kids, best teachers and best parents,” Warembourg said.