9 New York City High Schools Make Newsweek's 2016 List of America's Top 500

NEW YORK, NY — It's just about time to go back to school, which means Newsweek is handing out grades for the best public high schools in the country.

A handful of New York City schools regularly place in the Top 500. This year, nine schools made the list.

One even placed in the Top 5 this year: Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan's Battery Park City neighborhood took top honors in the city, at No. 3 overall in the nation. That's a huge deal for the school, which wasn't even in the Top 500 in 2015.

On the other hand, the Bronx High School of Science took top city honors in 2015 — No. 20 overall — and didn't even make Newsweek's list this year.

Staten Island Technical High School has been No. 2 in the city for two consecutive years but moved up 10 spots nationwide this year compared to last.

Here are Newsweek's top public high schools in New York City (overall ranking in parentheses):

1. Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan (3)
2. Staten Island Technical High School, Staten Island (13)
3. Townsend Harris, Queens (19)
4. Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn (62)
5. High School for Math, Science and Engineering at the City College of New York (CUNY), Manhattan (63)
6. Bard High School Early College, Queens (133)
7. Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Manhattan (188)
8. Manhattan Hunter Science High School, Manhattan (221)
9. Millennium High School, Manhattan (302)

Manhattan dominates the list with five of the top nine schools. The Bronx is the only borough with no schools in Newsweek's Top 500.

"There are so many wonderful schools across New York City, and I congratulate these schools on this recognition of their tireless efforts," Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña told Patch in a statement. "I look forward to working with all the deserving educators and school staff across the five boroughs as we build a better future for our students, and our City."

Stuyvesant High School, Staten Island High School, Brooklyn Technical High School and CUNY's High School for Math, Science and Engineering are all specialized high schools. That means kids must pass a specialized test in order to be admitted. Each year, 27,000 kids take the exam — and fewer than 20 percent are accepted.

"The benchmark is very high, so we do go out of our way to create as much of that college setting as possible, while still allowing them to remain kids," Mark Erlenwein, principal of Staten Island Technical High School, told Patch. "Beyond the academics, it is how much effort and time we spend converting the learning into preparing students for careers."

Some 500 kids at Staten Island Tech are placed in paid internship programs every year. The vast majority of students graduate with 30 to 60 college credits completed.

Erlenwein said Thursday that he sees no problem placing behind Stuyvesant High School in this year's Newsweek ranking.

The specialized high schools "all work very well together at this level," Erlenwein said. "At the end of the day, we're all working with the same level of student. I'm happy to stand alongside Stuyvesant High School on the list."

In determining the rankings, Newsweek used six measurements and weighted them to come up with a “college readiness index.” The rankings are meant to show how well each high school prepares its students for college.

Here's how heavily each measurement is weighed in the final ranking:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

Lead photo via Wikimedia Commons