Niche Ranks Florida's Best Public Schools

BRADENTON, FL — Pine View School is the top-ranked public high school in Florida, according to new rankings released Monday by Niche. The company gave Pine View an overall grade of A+.

Here are the top 10 best public schools in Florida and their rankings:

1. Pine View School in Sarasota County, A+
2. A.D. Henderson University School & FAU High School in Boca Raton, A+
3. School for Advanced Studies — South in Miami-Dade County, A+
4. Suncoast Community High School in Palm Beach County, A+
5. Stanton College Preparatory in Duval County, A+
6. Cypress Bay High School in Broward County, A+
7. Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts in Palm Beach County, A+
8. West Shore Junior/Senior High School in Brevard County, A+
9. School for Advanced Studies — North in Miami-Dade County, A+
10. Archimedean Upper Conservatory (AUC) in Miami-Dade County, A+.

Niche looked at more than 94,000 public schools, 4,100 private schools and nearly 11,000 school districts across the country. The rankings are meant to help parents and students find schools that best fit their needs.

“Unlike traditional school rankings, which rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance, Niche’s rankings provide a real-life view of what it’s like to attend a given school,” the company said.

Comments from current students, alumni, and parents are included in the analysis, as well as observations about things like campus life, extracurricular activities, sports options, diversity, and programs for gifted and special needs students.

“Parents and students need more than test-score data,” according to Luke Skurman, CEO at Niche. “They need to understand what it’s really like to attend a school before they start the application or registration process.”

For the first time, Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, were ranked the top private and public high schools, respectively, in the nation.

2020 top public high schools:

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology
2. Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
3. Walter Payton College Prep
4. Stuyvesant High School
5. Bergen County Academies

2020 top private high schools

1. Phillips Exeter Academy
2. St. Mark’s School of Texas
3. Phillips Academy
4. The College Preparatory School
5. Trinity School

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report