COBB COUNTY - Thirteen Cobb area high schools, including Marietta High, were selected to Newsweek's annual list of the best 1,600 high schools in the U.S.

The list represents just 6 percent of public schools in the country. Criteria is based on how staff challenges students with advanced placement, college-level courses and tests.

The Cobb County School District high schools named to the list include: Walton at rank 79; Wheeler, 347; Osborne, 391; Lassiter, 467; Campbell, 568; Carlton J. Kell, 661; Pope, 776; Sprayberry, 1161; Hillgrove, 1225; Kennesaw Mountain, 1238; Harrison, 1300; and North Cobb, 1438.

Marietta High School ranked 790.

Walton High School in east Cobb broke into the list's top 100 again this year, and Principal Judy McNeill said she and her faculty are very excited to continue to improve in the Newsweek rankings.

"We just keep trying to improve," McNeill said. "Letting our students know the importance of being involved with the AP courses and higher level courses so that they can be as prepared for their secondary options as possible."

McNeill said she and the faculty continue to push students to take advanced placement classes so they will be well prepared for college. The school has a vertical teaming program with its feeder middle schools, which prepares students early for the high achievement expectations in the upper classrooms and critical thinking in life.

"I'm so fortunate to have such a great faculty and great community to work with, and obviously everyone working together has accomplished a lot," McNeill said.

Wheeler High School's Principal David Chiprany said counselors and teachers have worked to raise the level of learning expectations at the east Cobb high school, which jumped from 776 on the 2009 list to 347 this year.

The school also has a program that makes advanced placement testing available at the middle school level, teaching younger students the need to challenge themselves. At the school's yearly AP awards night, Chiprany said he was inspired by his students' drive to excel.

"It's always amazing to me, because we have students who are graduating from high school and they are already sophomores in college," Chiprany said. "Seeing how many students applied themselves to so many tests and had college credit because they basically started out ahead of the game ... It all makes sense, the harder you work and the harder you raise the bar the better you are prepared for college and life, and it seems to be showing."

Climbing the list again this year, Marietta High School rose from 897 in 2009 to 790. Debbi Woolard, the school's International Baccalaureate coordinator said the school continues to strive to be the best in the country in preparing students for the next step of their education.

"We have a high standard at this school and we encourage students to fulfill their potential, to work hard and to take the tough classes," Woolard said. "We have a lot of students who are going for the highest they can achieve."

The system enrolls every student in its International Baccalaureate program in grades 6 through 10, so Woolard said they grow accustomed to these academic standards.

"Basically, the community continues to keeps their eye on the ball, so they've made AP and IB a priority," Woolard said. "This is just one more area where we seek to excel."