Long Island's Best High Schools For 2018: U.S. News

U.S. News and World Report has crunched the numbers for 2018, releasing its annual list of best high schools in the country, ranking the schools on a national and a state level.

Not a single Long Island school cracked the Top 10 in the state rankings. The first Long Island school in the state rankings was Jericho Senior High School at No. 16. The school was also ranked No. 98 nationally.

Overall, 25 Long Island schools made the Top 100 in the New York State rankings. (scroll down to see which Long Island schools made the list)

In New York, Baccalaureate School For Global Education in Long Island City earned the title of the best high school in the state. Overall, the school ranked as the 9th best high school in the country.

The 2018 best high school rankings were released on Wednesday and evaluate over 20,500 public high schools. U.S. News identified schools that best serve all students and assessed how prepared students are for college-level work. Schools are also recognized with gold, silver and bronze medals with gold indicating the greatest level of college readiness.

“Top-ranked schools succeed in three main areas: exceeding expectations on state proficiency tests, offering challenging coursework and graduating their students,” Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News, said in a press release.

Here’s how Long Island schools placed in the 2018 rankings:

• No. 16— Jericho Senior High School (National Rank: No. 98)
• No. 21— Cold Spring Harbor High School (National Rank: No. 143)
• No. 24— Garden City High School (National Rank: No. 169)
• No. 27— Wheatley School (National Rank: No. 180)
• No. 29— Great Neck South High School (National Rank: No. 195)
• No. 31— Manhasset Secondary School (National Rank: No. 200)
• No. 33— Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School (National Rank: No. 224)
• No. 35— Roslyn High School (National Rank: No. 242)
• No. 37— Syosset Senior High School (National Rank: No. 254)
• No. 38— Great Neck North High School (National Rank: No. 273)
• No. 40— Harborfields High School (National Rank: No. 280)
• No. 47— Herricks High School (National Rank: No. 348)
• No. 48— Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School (National Rank: No. 354)
• No. 53— North Shore Senior High School (National Rank: No. 387)
• No. 55— Earl L. Vandermeulen High School (National Rank: No. 482)
• No. 59— Bethpage Senior High School (National Rank: No. 538)
• No. 60— Half Hollow Hills High School West (National Rank: No. 541)
• No. 67— John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore (National Rank: No. 583)
• No. 73— Smithtown High School-West (National Rank: No. 694)
• No. 78— Half Hollow Hills High School East (National Rank: No. 751)
• No. 80— Lynbrook Senior High School (National Rank: No. 809)
• No. 81— H. Frank Carey High School (National Rank: No. 822)
• No. 83— New Hyde Park Memorial High School (National Rank: No. 834)
• No. 90— Valley Stream Central High School (National Rank: No. 894)
• No. 95— Valley Stream South High School (National Rank: No. 929)

To determine the rankings, U.S. News teamed up with the social science research firm RTI International. A variety of data sources, including the Common Core of Data, College Board and the International Baccalaureate, were used.

A four-step process was used to rank all eligible schools. The first two steps were to determine whether students were performing better than statistically expected in the state and whether minority were performing at or better than the state average for minority students, which was the second step. The third step required schools to meet or surpass a certain graduation benchmark and the final step was to determine college readiness. (You can read the full methodology here.)

The top 10 high schools in the U.S. overall are:

1. BASIS Scottsdale (AZ)
2. BASIS Chandler (AZ)
3. BASIS Oro Valley (AZ)
4. BASIS Tucson North (AZ)
5. BASIS Flagstaff (AZ)
6. Meridian School (TX)
7. International Academy of Macomb (MI)
8. BASIS Peoria (AZ)
9. Baccalaureate School for Global Education (NY)
10. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)

Click here to see the full rankings and for more insight on the data.

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