Pleasant Home School is among the nation’s best schools.

It was recently announced that the school has earned a bronze medal in the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools ranking.

The magazine — in collaboration with School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education and data research and analysis group that provides parents with education data at www.schoolmatters.com — analyzed academic and enrollment data from more than 21,000 public high schools to find the very best schools across the country. These top schools were placed into gold, silver, bronze or honorable mention categories.

Only 13 percent of the 21,035 American high schools received the bronze status; 2 percent received gold and 7 percent received silver.

Of the schools honored in Alabama, two were awarded gold medals, 16 received silver medals and 72 were considered bronze-medal schools.

“We are honored at PHS to receive this award and very proud of our students and community,” said PHS assistant principal Nikki Guilford. “Recognition of this manner is not achieved except by the dedication of our teachers, students, parents and community. There are so many individuals involved in creating a high school atmosphere where students can succeed in academics and job readiness skills.”

Guilford said PHS is student-focused, from the parent volunteers to the custodians to the teachers and administration.

“We strive to be involved with our students and make decisions based on what is best for students,” she said. “Our community members pour into our kids as well. Every moment is not always roses and smiles, but even through the hard assignments and frustrating failures, our students know we will continue to support them and encourage them to keep working hard for their future.”

According to the report, Pleasant Home has a ratio of 13 students for every one teacher, which is below the state average; a math proficiency of 93 percent, which is above the state average; and an English proficiency of 96 percent, also above the state average.

“We are very proud of Pleasant Home being a recipient of this award,” Covington County Schools Superintendent Shannon Driver said. “We know that they scored about average on these proficiency tests and are deserving of the honor.”

-Blake Bell contributed to this report.