Westwood Rises, Pascack Valley Falls in Top Schools List

was named the 58th best public high school in New Jersey by a list published by New Jersey Monthly this week. 

The magazine had ranked Westwood as the 92 best school in the state in their previous list, which ran in 2010. 

Pascack Valley High School dropped from 23rd to 73rd and Pascack Hills dropped from 7th to 18th.

Pascack Valley Regional Superintendent P. Erik Gundersen told Patch a change in the way schools are ranked — the district's 1:1 student to computer laptop program is no longer counted — caused the schools to drop in the list. The magazine made several changes to the way they rank schools, including an emphasis on test scores over graduation rates.

Gundersen also noted that test scores have not declined and some scores have risen since the previous list.

"Our community recognizes that we offer unique educational, athletic and co-curricular programs that help prepare our students for their future lives and are not measured in the NJ Monthly rankings," Gundersen wrote in an email to Patch. "Unfortunately, NJ Monthly does not interview students, analyze our unique non-AP course offerings, review our college acceptances, and take a close look at how we prepare our students to become productive, creative, and intelligent citizens."

Report cards released by the New Jersey Department of Education this year for Westwood and Pascack Valley found and both schools beat the state average graduation rate.

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