The new academic program attracted increased attention to the school. In 2000, City College was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, which placed it among the best schools in the country. The following year, the Toronto "National Post" reported on the two-month-long task of searching for the perfect high school in Great Britain, the United States, and Canada. It "never found the perfect school ... we found a few outstanding ones," the paper concluded. And one of these—the subject of a prominent feature article—was City College, led by Wilson. The school's rankings in "Newsweek"'s report of the nation's top high schools improved during this period. In 2003, it was ranked 593. Three years later, in 2006, City College was ranked 206, and in 2007 it was ranked 258. Given an estimated 27,500 public high schools across the nation, in 2007 ranking placed City College in the top one percent of all high schools. In its criteria, "Newsweek" divided the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests taken by the number of graduating seniors. The magazine stated that the measure showed schools which were committed to helping students take college-level courses.