Niche Ranks Napa County's Best Schools

NAPA COUNTY, CA — Justin-Siena High School is the top-ranked school in Napa County, according to new rankings released Monday by Niche. The company gave Justin-Siena an overall grade of A+ and ranked it the 130th-best private high school in the state.

Here are Niche's latest grades and ranks for some other schools around Napa County:

• Saint Helena High School, A, 205th-best public high school in California
• Saint Helena Primary School, A
• Vichy Elementary School, A-
• Napa High School, A-, 460th-best public high school in California
• Kolbe Academy and Trinity Prep, A-, 293rd best private high school in California
• Robert Louis Stevenson Intermediate School, A-, 3o3rd-best public middle school in California
• American Canyon High School, A-, 388th-best public high school in California
• Saint Helena Elementary School, A-, 956th-best public elementary school in California
• Northwood Elementary School, B+
• Canyon Oaks Elementary School, B+
• Donaldson Way Elementary School, B+
• River Charter, B+, 606th-best public middle school in California
• Mt. George International, B+
• Browns Valley Elementary School, B+
• Napa Christian Campus Of Education, B+, 326th-best private high school in California
• Vintage High School, B+, 576th-best public high school in California
• New Technology High School, B+, 594th-best public high school in California
• American Canyon Middle School, B+, 853rd-best public middle school in California
• Stone Bridge, B+, 855th-best public middle school in California

Niche looked at more than 94,000 public schools, 4,100 private schools and nearly 11,000 school districts across the country. The rankings — searchable for schools in Napa County — 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 in a news release.

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,” Luke Skurman, CEO at Niche, said in the news release. “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.