Indian Springs School was recognized as the best private high school in Alabama for the fifth consecutive year, and several other local schools were ranked highly in the Niche 2018 K-12 School & District Rankings.

Niche released and grades for all types of K-12 schools and school districts nationwide, including 17,867 public high schools, 3,497 private high schools, 64,094 public K-8 schools, and 10,574 school districts.

The rankings combine rigorous analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education for factors like academics, teachers, culture and diversity and more with millions of reviews from students and parents about their local schools.

The rankings can be found at Niche.com/k12/rankings/.

Indian Springs received an A-plus overall grade and A-plus in the categories of academics and college prep.

The school received an A grade for teachers, and clubs and activities; a B-plus for sports; and a B for diversity.

With 315 students, the student-to-faculty ratio at the school is 8:1, according to the study.

ISS, with a yearly tuition of $23,000, boasts a 100-percent average graduate rate, 1400 average SAT score and 30 average ACT score.

Spain Park High School, at No. 5, was the highest ranked high school located in Shelby County.

SPHS received an A-plus overall grade and A-plus for academics, clubs and activities, and health and safety.

The school received an A for teachers and college prep, and a B-plus for diversity.

Spain Park students have an 80-percent reading proficiency and 47-percent math proficiency, 95-percent graduation rate, 1270 average SAT score and 27 average ACT score, according to the study.

The next highest-ranked high school in Shelby County was Oak Mountain High School at No. 15 with a overall A grade, followed by Helena High School (17, A), Thompson High School (35, A-minus), Calera High School (47, B-plus), Chelsea High School (65, B-plus) and Shelby County High School (77, B-plus).

Montevallo High School and Vincent Middle High School received B-minus grades but were not ranked.

Pelham High School was not assigned an overall grade.

Other local private high schools ranked were Westminster School at Oak Mountain (12, A), Evangel Classical Christian School (13, A), Briarwood Christian School (18, A), Kingwood Christian School (39, B-plus) and Cornerstone Christian School (49, B).

The highest ranked middle school in Shelby County was Berry Middle School in Hoover, at No. 8 with an overall A grade.

The highest ranked elementary school in Shelby County was Riverchase Elementary School in Hoover, at No. 26 with an overall A grade.

Hoover City Schools, with an A-plus grade, was ranked as the No. 5 school district in Alabama, trailing Mountain Brook City Schools, Vestavia Hills City Schools, Madison City School and Homewood City Schools.

Alabaster City Schools was ranked No. 20 with an A-minus grade, Shelby County Schools was No. 23 with a B-plus.

With 19,928 students, SCS was the highest-ranked county school system in the state.

Pelham City Schools was not ranked but received an overall A grade.