Pomperaug High School Named One of America's Top 2016 Public Schools by Newsweek

Newsweek’s annual list of the top public high schools in America for 2016 that was released on Thursday reveals good news once again for Pomperaug Regional High School, which for the second straight year was named one of the nation's top 500 public high schools.

For 2016, Pomperaug High School ranked No. 325. In numerous education rankings, Pomperaug High School is always ranked as one the top high schools in Connecticut, and overall Region 15 schools score well on a wide array of rankings.

This year 16 Connecticut public high schools made the top 500 list with two cracking the top 100, according to Newsweek. Weston High School ranks as the state’s top public high school in 39th place.

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.

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.

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Newsweek’s list of the best public high schools in the country were 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.

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.

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.)