Niche, a website that helps people discover the schools and neighborhoods that are right for them, released its 2018 rankings lists recently, placing Sarasota County Schools' Booker High School at No. 79 out of 165, of the Best Schools for Arts in America. It ranks seventh on the statewide list for the same category.

"We rigorously analyze dozens of public data sets and millions of reviews to produce comprehensive rankings, report cards, and profiles for every K-12 school, college, and neighborhood in the U.S.," the website says.

These specific rankings are based on alumni interest in arts majors and colleges, school diversity and class size. Statistics were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education.

Diving deeper, each category is weighted to determine the final verdict:

• Top Colleges Arts Score (average score of colleges that students are most interested in or go on to attend, based on Niche Best for Arts Majors college rankings) - 40 percent
• Arts Majors (percentage of students interested in or studying an Arts-focused major, as reported by Niche users from this school) - 15 percent
• Parent/Student Surveys on Arts (parent and student opinions about the quality of the Arts-related academics and resources at the school they currently or recently attend[ed]) - 15 percent
• Culture & Diversity Grade (based on racial and economic diversity and survey responses on school culture and diversity from students and parents) - 10 percent
• Graduation Rate (percentage of 12th grade students who graduate) - 10 percent
• Student-teacher Ratio (ratio of students to full-time teachers. Please note: Student-teacher ratio is not a representation of average class size) - 10 percent
  

Additionally, Booker is ranked the 124th best public school in Florida by Nice, with an overall grade of A-. Niche ranks Booker the third-most diverse school in the state.

For more information and local lists, visit niche.com.