Hightstowns High School Among Top 200 In NJ: U.S. News

Sarah Salvadore
·2 min read

EAST WINDSOR, NJ — Hightstown High School is among the top 200 schools in New Jersey, according to a new ranking by U.S. News and World Report. This year's list of best high schools evaluated more than 17,800 schools nationwide, including 406 in New Jersey.

Hightstown High School ranks 186th in the state and 5,220th in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report.

West Windsor- Plainsboro High School North and South were ranked high than PHS in the new report — 14th and 15th statewide.

The 2022 ranking of best high schools is intended to show how well the nation's public schools serve all students, regardless of achievement level, by teaching them basic skills and preparing them for college-level work, according to a news release from U.S. News.

This year's schools were ranked on six measures: college readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment performance, state assessment proficiency, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates.

The data used in this year's ranking is from the 2019-20 academic school year. U.S. News adjusted calculations to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year.

But, U.S. News & World Report school rankings have their critics. James Fallows, a former U.S. News editor, even called them "meaningless" in an interview with NPR.

"The reason they started doing it back in the early 1980s under the guidance of a man named Mel Elfin, was because it was a brilliant business strategy," Fallows said. "By appealing to the human desire for rankings and knowing where you stand and where somebody else stands, they were able to make a very strong part of their business, which is now basically the only part of their business."

U.S. News, however, contends that the rankings help parents make better-informed decisions about their children's education.

"The goal is to provide a clear, unbiased picture," the report says, "of how well public schools serve all of their students — from the highest to lowest achieving — in preparing them to demonstrate proficiency in basic skills as well as readiness for college-level work."

Here are the New Jersey schools ranked among the top 100 in the country, according to U.S. News:

  • Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies, Edison. Ranked 23.

  • Union County Magnet High School, Scotch Plains: Ranked 49.

  • Bergen County Academies, Hackensack: Ranked 61.

  • High Technology High School, Lincroft: Ranked 65.

  • Dr. Ronald E McNair High School, Jersey City: Ranked 68.

  • Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health, Woodbridge: Ranked 69.

  • Biotechnology High School, Freehold: Ranked 80.

  • Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro, Teterboro: Ranked 93.

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

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This article originally appeared on the East Windsor Patch