Hard work and dedication by students and staff at an area high school earned it a silver ranking in the U.S. News & World Report's rating of the Best High Schools in the nation.

Mansfield Summit High School received a Silver Medal, and is the 127th best high school in Texas, according to the report. While Summit High School is part of Mansfield ISD, the student body is composed entirely of Arlington students.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings include data on more than 19,400 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Schools are awarded gold, silver or bronze medals based on the performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college.

A three-step process determined the Best High Schools. The first two steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using performance on state proficiency tests as the benchmarks. For those schools that made it past the first two steps, a third step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.

Silver medal high schools passed Step 1 and Step 2 and had a college readiness index at or above the median, but did not rank in the top 500 for college readiness among high schools across all states that passed Step 1 and Step 2.

Only 11 schools in Tarrant County were ranked among the nation's top public high schools, and Summit was the only school in Mansfield ISD or Arlington ISD to be ranked.