Parsippany Hills High's Place Among U.S. High Schools: U.S. News

PARSIPPANY, NJ — High school students in the Garden State have had an unprecedented form of education due to the new coronavirus pandemic. Despite the alternative learning methods being implemented, U.S. News & World Report has kept up its rankings, finding eight schools in New Jersey among the top 100 in the nation.

U.S. News and World Report also released a list on Tuesday that ranks the top high schools in New Jersey. This year's list ranks more than 17,800 public high schools across the nation.

Among those schools, Parsippany Hills High School was ranked 1,971 in the nation. In New Jersey, the school was ranked 88.

The purpose of the rankings is to provide insight into academic performance among underserved groups, showing how well schools are supporting these students, Anita Narayan, managing editor of education at U.S. News, said in a news release.

Families can also use the rankings to see how schools compare at the national, state and local level on factors such as graduation rates and college readiness, Narayan said.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, was ranked No. 1 in the nation, as well as among magnet schools.

Here are the top New Jersey schools that placed in the top 100 in this year’s national Best High Schools ranking:

• (#27) Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Technologies, Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District, Edison
• (#53) High Technology High School, Monmouth County Vocational School District, Lincroft
• (#54) Bergen County Academies, Bergen County Vocational Technical School District, Hackensack
• (#61) Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health, Middlesex County Vocational and Technical School District, Woodbridge
• (#73) Dr. Ronald E McNair High School, Jersey City Public Schools, Jersey City
• (#83) Union County Magnet High School, Union County Vocational-Technical School District, Scotch Plains
• (#91) Biotechnology High School, Monmouth County Vocational School District, Freehold
• (#92) Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro, Bergen County Vocational Technical School District, Teterboro

Here are the top 10 schools in this year’s national Best High Schools ranking:

1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology - Alexandria, Virginia
2. Academic Magnet High School - North Charleston, South Carolina
3. The Davidson Academy of Nevada - Reno, Nevada
4. Payton College Preparatory High School - Chicago, Illinois
5. School for Advanced Studies - Miami, Florida
6. Sumner Academy of Arts and Science - Kansas City, Kansas
7. Merrol Hyde Magnet School - Hendersonville, Tennessee
8. BASIS Chandler - Chandler, Arizona
9. Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology - Lawrenceville, Georgia
10. Signature School - Evansville, Indiana

The methodology used for this year’s ranking focused on six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates.

The data used in this edition is from the 2018-2019 academic school year and, therefore, was not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more about the Best High Schools methodology.

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 these sub-rankings.

BASIS Chandler in Arizona is at the top of the list for charter schools, and High Technology High School in Lincroft, New Jersey, is the No. 1 STEM school.

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