Livingston And Millburn Rank Near Top Of New List Of 'Best' Public High Schools

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Two public high schools in Essex County have landed in the top 25 on a new list of "best" public schools in New Jersey by Niche.com, a website known for its extensive rankings of schools, universities, and communities.

The educational consulting company released rankings Tuesday that include updated data for 92,743 public schools, 30,112 private schools and 11,820 school districts nationwide.

The platform is unique in that it combined ratings from current students, alumni and parents with quantitative data.

High Technology High School in Monmouth County, a public countywide magnet school, is New Jersey's highest-ranking public institution overall, holding ninth place on Niche's list of the nation's top public high schools.

Two other Garden State schools occupy the top 20: The Academy for Mathematics, Science & Engineering in Union County (11th) and Bergen County Academies (15th).

However, those schools are magnet schools that can turn applicants away.

On the statewide list, among non-magnet schools, the top 5 are: Princeton, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, Tenafly, West Windsor-Plainsboro North, and Millburn High.

Livingston And Millburn Get A's And B's

Two Essex County public high schools appeared in the top 25 statewide: Millburn High at 17, and Livingston High at 22.

Both got an A+ as their overall "Niche grade," as well as an A+ for college prep.

They also were ranked for diversity, clubs and activities, and more. You can read their rankings using the link below.

Incidentally, both the Millburn and Livingston districts ranked on a separate list of school districts overall. The West Essex schools, which include North Caldwell, also appeared on the top 25 districts.

The First 25 Public High Schools

Here are New Jersey's top public high schools, according to Niche:

1. High Technology High School (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
2. The Academy for Mathematics, Science & Engineering (Morris County Vocational School District)
3. Bergen County Academies (Bergen County Vocational Technical School District)
4. Biotechnology High School (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
5. Union County Magnet (Union County Vocational-Technical School District)
6. Academy for Information Technology (Union County Vocational-Technical School District)
7. Marine Academy of Technology & Environmental Science (Ocean County Vocational Technical School District)
8. Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro (Bergen County Vocational Technical School District)
9. Middlesex County Academy for Science, Mathematics & Engineering Technologies (Middlesex County Vocational & Technical School District)
10. Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School (Jersey City School District)
11. Academy for Allied Health Science (Union County Vocational-Technical School District)
12. Princeton High School (Princeton Public Schools)
13. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South (West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District)
14. Academy of Allied Health & Sciences (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
15. Tenafly High School (Tenafly Public School District)
16. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North (West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District)
17. Millburn Senior High School (Millburn Township School District)
18. Union County Vocational-Technical High School (Union County Vocational-Technical School District)
19. Marine Academy of Science & Technology (Monmouth County Vocational School District)
20. Northern Valley Regional High School Demarest (Northern Valley Regional High School District)
21. Northern Highlands Regional High School
22. Livingston Senior High School (Livingston Board of Education School District)
23. Ridgewood High School (Ridgewood Public School District)
24. Ridge High School (Bernards Township School District)
25. Summit Senior High School (Summit Public School District)

These are New Jersey's best private high schools, per Niche:

1. Princeton International School of Math and Science
2. The Lawrenceville School
3. The Pingry School
4. Newark Academy
5. Delbarton School
6. The Peddie School
7. Dwight-Englewood School
8. Kent Place School
9. Princeton Day School
10. Rutgers Preparatory School
11. Blair Academy
12. Montclair Kimberley Academy
13. The Wardlaw + Hartridge School
14. Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart
15. The Pennington School
16. The Wilberforce School
17. The Hun School of Princeton
18. Golda Och Academy
19. Ranney School
20. Morristown-Beard School
21. Pioneer Academy
22. Moorestown Friends School
23. Primoris Academy
24. Mount Saint Mary Academy
25. Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child - Upper School

See Niche's full rankings here.

Niche said its rankings differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic
performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.

The rankings help parents make informed decisions on their children's education, according to Niche CEO Luke Skurman.

But high school rankings have their critics. In 2013, former professor and Atlantic writer John Tierney argued that high school rankings are "nonsense."

"Parents might be able to use that information to find an affordable residence near good schools, while still leaving themselves within reasonable reach of their place of employment," Tierney wrote. "It's harder to fathom the logic for ranking high schools nationwide. Few are the families who will move out of state or across the country on the basis of claims about school quality."

School ratings have the power to drive segregation, contends Jack Schneider, an associate professor of education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

"There’s evidence that this is already happening via websites like GreatSchools.org and Niche.com," Schneider wrote last October for WBUR.

Find out more about the rankings and methodology here.

Editor Josh Bakan contributed to this report.