Von Steuben Principal Pedro Alonso (right) said the high school had achieve the top rating. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Patty Wetli

ALBANY PARK — Pedro Alonso, principal at Frederick Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center, saved the best news for last at Wednesday night's marathon Local School Council meeting when he announced that the high school's most recent report card made it a Level 1 School.

Only a handful of the district's more than 150 high schools have earned the coveted Level 1 standing, achieved almost solely by the system's selective enrollment schools. Von Steuben, a lottery school, now joins this exclusive club.

"We're up there with all the No. 1 schools," said Alonso. "That's big."

Among the numerous measures CPS employs to assess schools, the Performance Policy assigns rankings of Level 1 for excellent standing, Level 2 for good standing and Level 3 for probation. Schools earn points for current performance, trends over time and student growth on a variety of metrics.

Alonso noted that he had yet to view the data that moved the needle for Von Steuben but expected to have more information to share at next month's LSC meeting, scheduled for Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the school's new Social Room.