Seth Tooley has no problem talking up his alma mater -- The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Bowling Green, Ky.

“It’s not your average high school,” said Tooley, 22, a 2008 graduate of the academy, a public high school for juniors and seniors based at Western Kentucky University.

Tooley now studies science at Western Kentucky but also helps the Gatton Academy by answering telephone calls to the front office. “The students here are learning on a higher level, a ground-breaking level, and that makes all the difference," he told msnbc.com. "When they say students are working on the latest research with leading experts in the field, it's true.”

Editors at Newsweek & The Daily Beast agree, naming The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science as the best public high school in America.

The annual rankings by Newsweek & The Daily Beast highlight the 1,000 public high schools nationwide that have proven to be the most effective in turning out college-ready graduates.

The Top 15 are:
1. The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science in Kentucky, Bowling Green, Ky. 
2. The School for the Talented and Gifted Magnet, Dallas
3. Basis Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Ariz.
4. School of Science and Engineering Magnet, Dallas
5. Basis Tucson, Tucson, Ariz.
6. Jefferson County International Baccalaureate School, Birmingham, Ala.
7. Signature School, Evansville, Ind.
8. Stanton College Preparatory School, Jacksonville, Fla.
9. Suncoast Community, Riviera Beach, Fla.
10. Thomas Jefferson for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Va.
11. City Honors School at Fosdick-Masten Park, Buffalo, N.Y.
12. School for Advanced Studies, Miami 
13. Andrew Carnegie Vanguard, Houston
14. Uplift Education North Hills Preparatory School, Irving, Texas
15. Pine View School, Osprey, Fla.

For the complete list of 1,000 schools, and more educational insights, click here to go to thedailybeast.com/besthighschools.

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A Nevada principal has a lesson for U.S. News and World Report, which ranked his high school 13th best in the nation: It’s wrong.

Principal Jeff Horn says the magazine used incorrect data to place Green Valley High School of Henderson, Nev., just outside Las Vegas, above nearly 22,000 other public schools, elite prep and technical academies nationwide. The publication released its "Best High Schools" rankings on Tuesday.

"This is a great school and there are a lot of amazing things happening around here,” Horn told msnbc.com on Tuesday. "But the information it was based on is incorrect."

According to the Las Vegas Sun, the rankings published online showed Green Valley with 477 students and 111 teachers, a 4 to 1 ratio. Horn said Green Valley has 2,850 students and a student-teacher ratio closer to 24 to 1. The school also has a 64 percent pass rate on the Advanced Placement exams, not 100 percent as reported in the rankings, Horn said.

“My son first pulled up the report online and was reading it when he said, ‘Did you know you had 477 students?’" Horn said, adding “That's when I started reading it and saw the inaccuracies. Not only were there inaccuracies, but other things were skewed as well.”

Robert Morse, director of data research with U.S. News and World Report, told The Associated Press that the publication was aware of the discrepancy.

"We're looking into it," he told the AP.

According to the AP, Morse said the publication gathers enrollment numbers from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data database. The federal statistics center, run through the U.S. Department of Education, collects and analyzes school data from state and local officials, the AP reported.

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Officials with the Education Department didn't immediately return messages seeking comment from msnbc.com.

It's unclear where along the process mistakes were made. Horn said he wasn’t aware of any school official providing data to the publication, and he said he told the local newspaper that he also noticed what appeared to be skewed enrollment figures for other high schools in southern Nevada.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that U.S. News was correct in reporting 17 school districts in Nevada, but made an error when it reported 5,864 full-time teachers and 123,697 students. The Clark County School District has nearly 18,000 teachers and more than 308,000 students, the Las Vegas Sun reported.

Said Horn: “We’ve been getting calls from our local news stations congratulating us and I have had to correct them."

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