Six Long Island public high schools are among the nation’s top 200 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of “Best High Schools,” released early Wednesday.
Jericho High School was the only high school on Long Island to crack the top 100, ranked 98th nationally and 16th in the state. The Nassau County school district also was Long Island’s top-ranked school last year, at 67th nationally and at 11th in the state.
The other schools making U.S. News’ top 200 are Cold Spring Harbor High School, ranking 143rd nationally and 21st in the state; Garden City High School, ranked 169th nationally and 24th in the state; The Wheatley School in the East Williston School District, ranked 180th nationally and 27th in the state; Great Neck South High School, ranked 195th nationally and 29th in the state; and the Manhasset high school, ranked 200th nationally and 31st in the state.
U.S. News evaluates data published for more than 20,000 schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data analysts emphasize graduation rates and state proficiency tests to determine a school’s score.
“Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students,” said Anita Narayan, managing editor of education at U.S. News.
The top-ranked school in the nation was BASIS Scottsdale in Arizona, which was also ranked first last year. In New York, the highest-ranked institution was the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Long Island City.
Two Long Island schools were among the nation’s best STEM schools — for science, technology, engineering and math — with Great Neck North High School (53rd) and Great Neck South High School (64th) placing in the top 100.
In this year’s rankings, a four-step process determined the best high schools. The first three steps ensured that the schools serve all of their students well, using their performance on the math and reading parts of their state proficiency tests and their graduation rates as the benchmarks. For those schools that made it past the first three steps, a fourth step assessed the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work.
Results were posted publicly after midnight.
Not all districts participate in the rankings. Officials at Ward Melville High School in the Three Village district in Suffolk County have said that the rankings do not “capture the complete picture of a school.” Students there take many college-level courses that are not included in the rankings, and the rankings do not take extracurricular or special education programs or other school strengths into consideration, high school officials there said.
Other schools ranked in the top 50 in the state included Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington (33rd); Roslyn High School (35th); Syosset High School (37th), Great Neck North High School (38th); Harborfields High School (40th); Herricks High School (47th) and Plainview-Old Bethpage High School (48th).
