U.S. News 'Best High Schools': Pearl River, Tappan Zee Rankings

ORANGETOWN, NY — Pearl River High School ranks No. 91 in the state and Tappan Zee High School ranks No. 254, according to the 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.

TZHS is ranked No. 2,643 nationally and PRHS is ranked No. 835 on the national list.

The magazine reviewed 25,000 schools and ranked 17,680 of them, including 1,376 in New York State.

Families can use the annual rankings to compare schools at the national, state and local levels on factors such as academic performance, graduation rates and college readiness, U.S. News said in a news release about the new list.

In general, the highest-ranked schools had students who performed well on state assessment for math, reading and science, U.S. News said. They also performed strongly in meeting the needs of underserved students, including those who are Black, Hispanic or from low-income households. The schools had a breadth of curriculum offerings and high graduation rates, and their students performed well on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams.

U.S. News said 11 of the top 20 ranked schools were charter or magnet schools.

In addition to the national rankings, U.S. News also published rankings at the state, metro area and school district levels (only metro areas and school districts with three or more high schools were included in those subrankings).

In national rankings, the top five schools are, respectively: The Early College at Guilford, Greensboro, North Carolina; Signature School at Evansville, Indiana; The School for Advanced Studies in Miami; The Davidson Academy of Nevada at Reno; and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology at Alexandria, Virginia.

No Hudson Valley school cracked U.S. News' Top 100 nationally, but Bronxville High School made it to No. 151 on that list.

In the magazine's rankings for New York State, 25 high schools in the Hudson Valley made the top 100. The top 10 were all in New York City.

Here are the state and national placements for the Hudson Valley schools in the top 100 of the magazine's statewide ranking:

Bronxville High School: No. 16 in state rankings and No. 151 in national rankings

Rye High School: No. 17 in state rankings, No. 167 in national rankings

Edgemont High School: No. 19 in state rankings, No. 176 nationally

Horace Greeley: No. 25 in state rankings, No. 224 nationally

North Salem: No. 27 in state rankings, No. 246 nationally

Blind Brook: No. 32 in state rankings, No. 266 nationally

Irvington: No. 34 in state rankings, No. 271 nationally

Hastings: No. 38 in state rankings, No. 317 nationally

Harrison: No. 39 in state rankings, No. 321 nationally

Dobbs Ferry: No. 40 in state rankings, No. 331 nationally

Briarcliff: No. 41 in state rankings, No. 332 nationally

Byram Hills: No. 45 in state rankings, No. 348 nationally

Croton-Harmon: No. 47 in state rankings, No. 353 nationally

John Jay: No. 52 in state rankings, No. 39 nationally

Mamaroneck: No. 56 in state rankings, No. 452 nationally

Pelham: No. 61 in state rankings, No. 523 nationally

Pleasantville: No. 64 in state rankings, No. 559 nationally

Rye Neck: No. 70 in state rankings, No. 628 nationally

Scarsdale: No. 75 in state rankings, No. 665 nationally

Fox Lane: No. 81 in state rankings, No. 729 nationally

Ardsley: No. 82 in state rankings, No. 746 nationally

Tuckahoe: No. 83 in state rankings, No. 750 nationally

Yorktown: No. 84 in state rankings, No. 773 nationally

Yonkers High School: No. 88 in state rankings, No. 827 nationally

Pearl River: No. 91 in state rankings, No. 835 nationally

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 its calculation of these measures to account for the impact COVID-19 had on schools in the 2019-20 school year. Since most states closed schools for in-person instruction starting in March 2020 — typically just before most states conduct assessments — the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers allowing all states to forgo state testing for the 2019-20 school year.

U.S. News relied on past assessment data from the three prior ranking years. Researchers also incorporated state science assessment data from the 2018-19 school year.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.