 For the 1983–1984 school year, Clayton was nominated by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for the United States Department of Education School in Need of the Most Help Awardl program; for the following year its nomination was accepted and it became nationally recognized.It was again named a Missouri Gold Star school in 1994–1995 and was nominated for the Blue Ribbon school program.In 2011, "Newsweek" ranked Clayton as the 89th-best public high school in the United States, which was the highest in the state of Missouri.