Four of Bellevue's six high schools rank in Washington's top 10, and all six earned spots in U.S. News & World Report's 2026–2027 national high school rankings.

International School led the district at No. 2 in the state and No. 41 nationally out of 17,945 ranked schools, according to U.S. News. Every member of International's most recent 12th-grade class took at least one Advanced Placement exam. Ninety-seven percent passed.

Newport Senior High placed No. 6 in Washington and No. 278 nationally, with 1,850 students enrolled in grades 9–12. Interlake Senior High came in at No. 8 statewide and No. 303 nationally, enrolling 1,611 students. Bellevue High School rounded out the top-10 group at No. 10 in the state and No. 417 nationally, with 1,683 students.

Bellevue Big Picture School, a small alternative program serving grades 6–12 with 120 high school students, ranked 38th in Washington and No. 1,851 nationally. Sammamish Senior High, where 43% of students are economically disadvantaged, ranked 56th in the state and No. 2,882 nationally. Sammamish enrolls 1,363 students in grades 9–12.

Superintendent Kelly Aramaki announced the recognition in a Thursday, Sept. 24, blog post, writing that he is "grateful for the recognitions that reflect what's possible in public education." The district presented plaques and banners to each school at a board meeting, he wrote.

The achievement is not new. In a Sept. 2 back-to-school blog, Aramaki noted the six schools had earned the distinction "for another year."

The rankings, published July 30, evaluate schools on state test performance, graduation rates and college readiness. U.S. News weighs a College Readiness Index (CRI) heavily in its methodology. International School scored 97.9 out of 100 on that measure. Newport scored 75.0, Bellevue High 71.4 and Interlake 65.1. Sammamish scored 43.7 and Big Picture 42.4.

The rankings cover 17,945 schools nationally and 318 in Washington state, drawing on data from the 2022–2023 through 2024–2025 school years.