Pomperaug Regional HS Ranked Among Top 12 in CT: U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News and World Report has crunched the numbers for 2017, releasing its annual list of best high schools in the country, ranking the schools on a national and a state level.

In Connecticut, Amistad Academy in New Haven earned the title of the best high school in the state. Overall, the school ranked as the 20th best high school in the country. Weston High School in Weston ranked as the second best in the state, followed by East Granby High School. Eight Connecticut high schools were given gold medals by U.S. News, 24 received silver medals and the remaining eight schools received bronze medals. (To receive free news alerts from your hometown in Connecticut click here.)

Compared to other states, Connecticut came in fourth, with 23.5 percent of the state’s schools receiving silver or gold medals.

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include data on more than 20,000 high schools. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.

The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state, factoring in percentages of economically disadvantaged students to identify schools. Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for the least-advantaged students.

For the next two steps, U.S. News looked at graduation rates and college readiness performance. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th graders who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

To be ranked numerically nationally, schools had to pass steps 1-3 and have a college readiness index of 20.91 or above.

A total of 6,041 schools were ranked, 500 schools receiving gold medals, 2,109 schools receiving silver medals and the remaining 3,432 schools received bronze medals. Schools that received bronze medals passed the first three steps but were not ranked numerically in the national rankings. The state rankings were based on whether a high school received a gold, silver or a bronze medal and had a CRI value of 10 or higher.

Previously, only gold and silver medal winners were ranked numerically on the state level.

The top high 10 schools in Connecticut are:

1. Amistad Academy, New Haven (National Rank: 20)
2. Weston High School, Weston (National Rank: 231)
3. East Granby High School, East Granby (National Rank: 294)
4. Ridgefield High School, Ridgefield (National Rank: 298)
5. Staples High School, Westport (National Rank: 391)
6. Conard High School, West Hartford (National Rank: 450)
7. New Canaan High School, New Canaan (National Rank: 464)
8. Farmington High School, Farmington (National Rank: 495)
9. Simsbury High School, Simsbury (National Rank: 517)
10. Fairfield Ludlowe High School, Fairfield (National Rank: 655)

Click here to see the full list for Connecticut.

The top high schools in the country are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
2. BASIS Tucson North, Tucson, Arizona
3. BASIS Oro Valley, Oro Valley, Arizona
4. School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, Texas
5. BASIS Peoria, Peoria, Arizona
6. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
7. Basis Chandler, Chandler, Arizona
8. Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, Texas
9. School of Science and Engineering, Dallas, Texas
10. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, California

Click here to see the full national list.

Photo credit: Pomperaug Regional High School, Southbury

— By FEROZE DHANOA (Patch National Staff)

(Editor's Note: This story first ran previously but here it is again in case you missed it.)