Morro Bay High School’s administration building is the main entrance to one of the best high schools in America. Photo by Neil Farrell
Morro Bay High School administrators, staff and students are celebrating a milestone achievement, as they break through into the Top-10 percent of U.S. high schools in an assessment conducted by a national magazine.
U.S. News & World Report recently named its Best High Schools list for 2026-27 and MBHS landed inside the Top 10 percent in the nation. The school also ranked second best high school in San Luis Obispo County behind the other district high school, San Luis Obispo High, school Principal Michael Franklin said.
“Five years ago,” he said, “we were No. 7 in the county. Then 2-years ago we were No. 3. We’re literally 2 percentage points below San Luis High.”
He added that the high rankings were “A testament to our district as a whole. It’s hard to be in the Top 10 percent in anything.”
He said anyone thinking about bringing their child into the district can rest assured that SLO and Morro Bay have top-notch educational facilities.
Both schools have also recently undergone extensive upgrades and remodeling projects after district taxpayers approved the Measure D bond to fund modernization efforts at the San Luis Coastal Unified School District’s two main high schools (Pacific Beach High, a continuation school, is also being upgraded).
The U.S. News & World Report rankings looked at some 18,000 high schools of every stripe — public, private, parochial, charter and specialized academies — and Franklin explained Morro Bay was ranked within the Top 6.5%.
A large part of this has to do with [retired Principal] Scott Schalde and the work ethic he instilled here,” said Franklin, who is in his first year at MBHS. Schalde’s philosophy was to do right by the kids, he added. He set up a foundation of love for the kids.
Franklin said the school also has experienced and dedicated teachers who have on average from 14-16 years experience teaching. The national average, he said, is eight to 10-years experience. “People have vested their careers here at Morro Bay.” And yet, “We have people with enough energy to try different things and the experience to know what works.”
He added that the kids’ families are extremely supportive of the school and collaborative with “what’s going on at this campus.”
He notes a Back to School Night they held before school started up this year was standing room only in the school theater, which easily seats 300.
“The teachers said there’s never been that many before,” Franklin said.
He’s also met with the mayor, police chief and school resource officer, as well as local business leaders and all expressed support and interest in the school.
“I want to make sure the school does stuff for the community,” he explained, talking about a desire to have the kids do lasting community projects.
Vice Principal Will Wallace explained the methods the online magazine used to rate the schools and develop the rankings. It starts with so-called Advanced Placement or AP classes. These are advanced learning curriculums that often translate into actual college credits.
It involves a lot of testing, Wallace said, “AP testing.”
Any student at the school can sign up for the variety of AP classes they offer. “It’s our view that the kids get a lot of access to those classes,” Wallace said. It starts freshman year with an individual meeting with he and the other V.P. Ben Davis, who met with every incoming freshman before school started.
“We try to grab as many kids as possible into those AP classes,” Wallace said. AP classes are challenging and call for a lot of dedication to get through them, especially for teenagers who might have a wide variety of interests. But Wallace said it hasn’t led to a drop in any meaningful measure of success. “We tripled the number of kids in AP classes and the success and pass rate has risen.”
A kid doesn’t just sit in an AP class they have to pass a test too for the credits to count. These are super hard classes, Wallace explained and they try to get all the kids to take the AP test, which is voluntary.
And, “Anyone can take an AP class,” Franklin explained. They aren’t just for upper classmen.
Seems the kids at MBHS want the challenge. Franklin said there are more students in the AP history class than the regular history class. AP history starts at the beginnings of civilization itself and works forward to modern time, much as a History of Western Civilization class in college would do.
How does the magazine’s ranking work? According to the website: “The U.S. News Best High Schools rankings include data on more than 27,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia.
“Nearly 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.”
The best schools had to earn it. “The highest-ranked U.S. public schools,” the magazine said, “are those whose students demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessments, earned qualifying scores on an array of college-level exams, and graduated in high proportions.”
Scoring is as follows:
• 30% college readiness. College readiness index is measured by the proportion of a school’s 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate [IB] exams.
• 10% college curriculum breadth. Calculated among a school’s 2023-2024 12th graders from the percentage who took and the percentage who earned qualifying scores on multiple AP or IB exams.
• 20% state assessment proficiency. Scoring on state standardized tests measuring student proficiency in subjects related to math, reading and science.
• 20% state assessment performance. This is derived from math, reading and science state assessments.
• 10% underserved student performance. Learning outcomes among Black, Hispanic and low-income students.
• 10% graduation rate. Measured as the proportion of students who were freshmen in the 2020-21 school year vs. percentage who graduated in 4 years (2024).
A large part of Morro Bay High’s success has come from peer pressure but not the stereotypical negative peer pressure that leads kids astray.
V.P Ben Davis said typically a student starts with AP classes as a sophomore, 10th grade. “That’s when they jump up to AP classes,” he said. This year they had more than 100 kids ask for AP classes and “They’re doing it because of their peers, they’re moving with the herd.”
The students have high expectations of each other.
Wallace said they have another program — AVID or Advancement Via Individual Determination — which is for kids whose parents didn’t go to college. That program identifies these kids and steers them towards classes that will lead to college, Wallace explained.
Davis added, “We take real good care of these kids and it’s like a tsunami that’s taken over the campus.”
A few years ago the school was steering towards a so-called STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) curriculum, even spending some $6 million on a STEAM lab during the Measure D upgrades. How does STEAM fit in with this AP class focused award?
Davis said STEAM is still a focus at the school, noting the great things the kids are doing in their refurbished automotive shop.
“You’re changing people’s generational identities,” Davis said. One extra step has been introduction of internships in the STEAM curriculum. With courses in auto and engineering, he said, you enroll in the class and look for an internship. “These are usually seniors.”
As an intern, a student gets on-the-job learning and training, to compliment their classroom work. And if the internship presents something they aren’t ready for, they can ask their teachers for help in school.
It’s a brand new aspect to the school, Davis said. And as the programs become more defined they can reach more students.
Franklin said if you’re looking for a good place to send your child to high school, Morro Bay is about as good as you’ll find. “You’ll get an education that rivals the Top 10 percent in the country. If you come here, your kid is going to be supported.”
Davis added that the excellence shows up in other ways too. “You can see it appear in other places,” Davis said. “Our suspension rate was less than 1% last year. The kids treat this place differently.”
The latest award comes on top of the school also being named a Distinguished School some time ago.
