Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools 2016: How Connecticut Schools Ranked

Newsweek’s annual list of the top public high schools in America for 2016 that was released on Thursday reveals some good news for Connecticut.

Last year, 15 Connecticut public high schools made the list of the top 500 schools and this year that number increased to 16 schools.

Just like in 2015, Weston High School ranks as the state’s top public high school in 39th place. In 2015, Weston High School placed No. 47.

But there were also some changes in the rankings. In 2015, Staples High School placed No. 63 and this year it wasn’t among the top 500.

The second Connecticut public high school to make the top 100 list is Wilton High School at No. 56. No other public school in Connecticut made the top 100 list in 2016, but 14 other schools were ranked between 100-500, according to Newsweek.

The rest of that list includes:

Avon High School, No. 116, Ridgefield High School, No. 151, East Lyme High School, No. 224, Haddam-Killingworth, No. 267, Farmington High School, 286, Pomperaug High School, No. 325, Newtown High School, No. 339, South Windsor High School, No. 348, Litchfield High School, No. 364, Cheshire High School, No. 374, East Hampton High School, No. 384, Valley Regional High School, No. 389, Woodstock Academy, No. 407, and Lyme-Old Lyme High School, No. 471.

Other Connecticut public schools that were ranked in 2015 by Newsweek that didn’t make the cut this year include: Staples High School, Daniel Hand High School, Simsbury High School, East Granby High School, Hall High School in West Hartford, Woodstock Academy, and Connecticut IB Academy.

And if you’re curious about the national list, five of the nation’s top 12 public high schools are located in New Jersey.

The top public high school in the country is Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, followed by Academy for Math, Science and Engineering in New Jersey, and Stuyvesant High School in New York.

Original post:

Newsweek’s list of the best public high schools in the country will be revealed Thursday morning — and it’s one you’ll want to pay attention to if you care about local-school quality and want to know where Connecticut schools rank.

We know you see a lot of lists: 10-Most Redneck Towns; 20 Least-Affordable States; Fattest Counties in the United States; Best Cities for People with 2 Kids, 1 Dog but No Cats.

Newsweek’s rankings of the best public high schools in the country stand apart. The school rankings are borne of legitimate research. Newsweek uses legitimate and objective measurements to put together its annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

And just in time for the start of school, Newsweek is releasing 2016’s list later Thursday morning.

Last year, 2 Connecticut high schools made the top 100 in Newsweek's 2015 rankings. Weston High came in at #47 and Staples in Westport at #63. Other schools that made the 2015 list were Ridgefield, Lyme-Old Lyme, Daniel Hand in Madison, Simsbury, Newtown, Farmington, Haddam-Killingworth, Pomperaug Regional High in Southbury, East Granby, Hall High in West Hartford, South Windsor, the Connecticut IB Academy in East Hartford and Woodstock Academy.

Will there be changes in the rankings? Newcomers to the upper echelon? Check back with Patch later this morning for the full national and statewide lists as soon as they are released.

So, how did Newsweek come up with the rankings?

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achieve a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how well high schools prepare students for college.

Those measurements and their weight are:

• 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.

Newsweek used school performance data from the National Center for Education Statistics to narrow the list of schools.

Of those 6,477 schools, 4,760 were considered for the overall rankings, while 4,452 made the cut for another list of schools “beating the odds.” (Many schools made both lists.)

For the “beating the odds” rankings, a school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools with similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Patch also will post a list of schools “beating the odds.”

Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, took the top spot in last year’s overall rankings for the second year in a row. New Jersey had six of the top 10 public high schools in the country.

Thomas Jefferson has been a regular powerhouse on previous best schools rankings and puts an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics classes.

“We’re preparing kids to go into fields that have yet to be invented,” Principal Evan Glazer told Newsweek last year. “We’re really focusing more on skills and an appreciation for STEM. But if they decide to become journalists, we convey that they have a unique knowledge base in STEM. They would be able to contribute to articles on energy, the environment, and government policy on those important issues.”