Lassiter is the seventh-best public high school in Georgia and the 311th-best in the nation, according to an analysis of 21,776 high schools released today by U.S. News & World Report.

Basically, the magazine tried to identify the schools where students, top to bottom, performed better than expected, based on the racial, ethnic and economic makeup of the student body and compared with other schools in the state.

U.S. News then took the best schools from every state except Nebraska (not enough data), plus the District of Columbia, and rated them on college readiness, based on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests. The data come from the 2009-10 school year.

You can read all about the three-step methodology if you want details.

What do you think of the ratings of Lassiter and other Cobb schools? Do you put any faith in efforts to rank schools?

Lassiter received a 52.6 on the College Readiness Index, making it one of eight schools in Georgia to receive gold-medal status.

The only higher-ranked school in Cobb County is Walton, third in the state and 191st in the nation.

Other Cobb schools ranked nationally with silver medals are Wheeler (13th in Georgia, 686th in nation), Campbell (27th, 1,606th) and Marietta (18th, 1,611th).

Also in Northeast Cobb, Kell received a college readiness score of 30.9, and Sprayberry received a score of 22.3.

Savannah Arts Academy is rated No. 1 in Georgia and No. 87 in the nation with a college readiness score of 76.4. You can look up any Georgia public high school.

The top of the national rankings nationally should make Cobb Superintendent Michael Hinojosa proud: The Nos. 1 and 3 schools, the School for the Talented and Gifted and the School of Science and Engineering Magnet, are from the Dallas Independent School District, which Hinojosa led until a year ago.

This is the fourth time U.S. News has ranked the nation’s public schools and the first time since 2009, when the magazine considered only 1,800 high schools.

The magazine worked with American Institutes for Research to produce the rankings.