Weston High School ranks 163 in Newsweek’s 2012 “America’s Best High Schools” list.

In addition Redding’s Joel Barlow High Schoolranks 778.

The list of the “top 1,000 high schools in the country” is based on data provided by 2,300 participating school districts. (According to the National Center for Education Statistics there were more than 24,000 secondary schools in the US as of 2009.)

To arrive at the ranking Newsweek considered graduation rate (25 percent), college matriculation rate (25 percent), AP/IB/AICE tests taken per student (25 percent), average SAT/ACT scores (10 percent), average AP/IB/AICE scores (10 percent), and AP courses offered per student (5 percent).

Other Fairfield County high schools that made the list include:

• Staples High School, Westport (234)
• Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield (319)
• Darien High School, Darien (328)
• Greenwich High School, Greenwich (561)
• Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Fairfield (612)
• Fairfield Warde High School (802)

Earlier this month U.S. News & World Report ranked Weston High School the fourth best high school in Connecticut and the 270th best in the country in its 2012 Best High Schools ranking. That ranking is based on data from more than 22,000 schools, US News claims, however some school districts later discovered that the data provided was incorrect.