9 NYC Schools Make Newsweek's Top Public High Schools List

Just in time for the start of the school year, Newsweek released its annual list Wednesday of the top public high schools in America for 2015.

Nine New York City schools (and 21 in Long Island) made the list of the top 500 schools in the nation, out of almost 30,000 public high schools throughout the United States.

Here’s how the NYC schools ranked:

20. Bronx High School Of Science (Bronx)

• Poverty: 11.7%
  
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:202
• Student Retention: 96.1%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 82.8
• Average SAT Score: 1971
• Average ACT Score: 29.4
• Average AP Score: 3.8

23. Staten Island Technical School (Staten Island)

• Poverty: 29.5%
  
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:313
• Student Retention: 100.3%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 81.5
• Average SAT Score: 1941
• Average ACT Score: 29.6
• Average AP Score: 3.85

35. Townsend Harris High School (Queens)

• Poverty: 51.1%
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:288
• Student Retention: 100.4%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 78.1
• Average SAT Score: 1921
• Average ACT Score: 28.1
• Average AP Score: 3.54

39. Brooklyn Technical High School (Brooklyn)

• Poverty: 6.8%
  
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:246
• Student Retention: 92%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 74.5
• Average SAT Score: 1899
• Average ACT Score: 29
• Average AP Score: 3.44

57. Queens High School for the Sciences (Queens)

• Poverty: 53.1%
  
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:210
• Student Retention: 98%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 77.4
• Average SAT Score: 1914
• Average ACT Score: 28.4
• Average AP Score: 3.37

86. High School for Math, Science And Engineering At CCNY (Manhattan)

• Poverty: 550.5%
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:231
• Student Retention: 93.9%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 76.1
• Average SAT Score: 1867
• Average ACT Score: 28.8
• Average AP Score: 3

126. The Brooklyn Latin School (Brooklyn)

• Poverty: 70.3%
  
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:147
• Student Retention: 87.3%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 65.9
• Average SAT Score: 1782
• Average ACT Score: 25.5
• Average AP Score: N/A
  

199. NYC Lab High School For Collaborative Studies (Manhattan)

• Poverty: 39.8%
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:195
• Student Retention: 96.9%
• SAT/ACT Composite Score: 70.7
• Average SAT Score: 1786
• Average ACT Score: 29
• Average AP Score: N/A
  

482. Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (Manhattan)

• Poverty: 32%
• Counselor-Student Ratio: 1:331
• Student Retention: 98.8%
• Average SAT Score: 1782
• Average ACT Score: 27.6
• Average AP Score: 3.34

The rankings were compiled using several metrics — including graduation rate, college enrollment rate, SAT and ACT scores, AP and IB scores and participation, teacher-student ratio and dropout rates.

RELATED: The 10 Best Public High Schools in Brooklyn, Ranked By U.S. News & World Report

“Some factors are more important, especially since our rankings focus on college readiness,” Jim Impoco, editor in chief of Newsweek, told Patch via email. “We place emphasis on criteria like college enrollment and graduation rate since we know that those are some of the biggest indicators of whether students are prepared for college.”

This year’s rankings were weighted by:

• Enrollment Rate: 25 percent
• Graduation Rate: 20 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/Dual Enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT composite: 17.5 percent
• Change in student enrollment between 9th-12th grades, to control for dropout rates: 10 percent
• Counselor-to-Student Ratio: 10 percent

Here are the top 10 high schools in the United States, according to Newsweek.

1. Thomas Jefferson High (Alexandria, VA)
2. High Technology High School (Lincroft, NJ)
3. Academy for Mathematics Science and Engineering (Rockaway, NJ)
4. Union County Magnet High School (Scotch Plains, NJ)
5. Bergen County Academies (Hackensack, NJ)
6. Gretchen Whitney High (Cerritos, CA)
7. Middlesex County Academy for Math Science & Engineering (Edison, NJ)
8. International Academy (Bloomfield Hills, MI)
9. Academy of Allied Health and Science (Neptune, NJ)
10. Walter Payton College Preparatory HS (Chicago, IL)

See the full rankings here.

Note: This article previously left off Townsend Harris High School in Queens. Headline has been updated to reflect the change.