CUMMING, Ga. — Pinecrest Academy is ranked as one of the top Catholic schools in the state by Niche.com.
The education research tool is used to review and rank U.S. colleges, schools, and neighborhoods. Niche ranked Pinecrest 2nd overall in Georgia for best Catholic high schools, right behind Marist School in Brookhaven.
The high school principal, Luisa Zalzman, says the ranking is an honor and a responsibility, "it makes me very proud of our students and staff, but with that comes great responsibility to maintain that ranking."
According to the website, all Niche rankings are based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents. Niche grades and rankings also include dozens of public data sets.
Pinecrest Communications and Public Relations Manager, Vivian Heard, says the recognition is based on several academic and classroom size factors, "a lot of it had to do with our SAT/ACT scores, the quality of colleges that our students consider, and our student-teacher ratio."
In addition, Pinecrest received an overall "A+" grade from the academic research website. The Catholic school was also ranked #1 best private school in Forsyth County for kindergarten through 12th grade and #1 most diverse private high school in the county.
The private school is also a 2014 National Blue Ribbon School, and a School of Excellence, as named by the Cardinal Newman Society, since 2007.
Pinecrest Headmaster Dr. Edward Spurka, says all of these awards and honors just show what they're doing is working, "we just really want to be a part of the conversation for parents and students in Forsyth County."
Niche.com releases the top Catholic schools in each state every year around this time. They also create state rankings for most diverse schools, best college prep schools, and best teaching staff.
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