U.S. News & World Report Ranks High Schools

Millburn High School placed 12th in New Jersey on the U.S. News and World Report's fourth edition of its Best High Schools rankings.

Topping the state list was High Technology High School in Lincroft, New Jersey. In Essex County, Millburn High School was the highest ranking high school placing 12th out of 377 public schools and 12 charter schools in the state. Glen Ridge High School ranked 20th and Livingston Senior High School came in at number 32. Millburn High's national ranking on the list was 214th out of 22,000. it ranked 162nd nationally in Science, Technology, Enginering and Mathematics (aka STEM).

Nearby in other counties, schools faired better than those in Essex County with Chatham High School coming in 7th and Princeton 10th on the state list. Interestingly, some schools in more urban areas did well: Elizabeth High School placed 6th and Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School in Jersey City came in at 3rd in the state.

The magazine had this to say about Millburn High School: the AP® participation rate is 63 percent. The student body makeup is 51 percent male and 49 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 21 percent. The school has 1,407 students and 1 percent of the population is economically disadvantaged.

According to the magazine, U.S. News partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), which implemented the  rankings methodology. To determine the Best High Schools national rankings, schools were first analyzed at the state level in terms of how well students in each school performed on state assessments, taking into account the test scores of disadvantaged students (low-income, Hispanic, and black), who tend to score lower on tests.

High schools that made it through this analysis were then eligible to be ranked nationally, in terms of college readiness. U.S. News determines the degree to which schools prepare students for college-level work by analyzing student success in Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, both of which include college-level courses.