Outranking every other high school in the state this year in challenging students to take advanced national and international tests was the Downingtown STEM Academy.

The academy edged out fellow Chester County finalists Conestoga High School, at No. 5, and Unionville High School, at No. 7, as well as claimed the 95th overall spot in the annual list of 2,300 American high schools compiled by the Washington Post, according to a Philly.com report. Of the 38 Pennsylvania schools ranked, Downingtown High School East  attained No. 21 statewide, and Downingtown West was No. 31. Yesterday, we did a story on some of Downingtown West’s outstanding students.

The rankings are based on an index that compares the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests taken by students at each school with the number of graduates.

And it champions schools that scrap requirements limiting the number of students who are eligible to take on such challenges.

“Educators sticking to the old access rules ‘believe that schools are a true meritocracy, which they are not,’ said Carol Burris, New York’s 2013 High School Principal of the Year,” according to a Washington Post column supplementing the newspaper’s rankings list. “‘Studies consistently show that students from upper middle homes have an advantage in placement in ‘high track’ classes that goes beyond test scores and grades. There remains a stubborn resistance to opening opportunity.’”

Read more about the state rankings on Philly.com here and the rationale behind challenging students to take the tough courses in the Washington Post here.