West Morris Mendham Named Among Best Public High Schools In NJ: Niche

MENDHAM, NJ — Niche released its 2023 Best Schools and Districts rankings on Tuesday, and West Morris Mendham High School was ranked amongst some of the best.

West Morris Mendham High School ranked 35th out of 425 for best public high schools in New Jersey and 510 out of 20,032 in America.

Locally, West Morris Mendham ranks as the 3rd best public high school in Morris County. The school has 1,142 students and a 12:1 student-teacher ratio, according to Niche.com.

"We always appreciate being well thought of by others," said West Morris Regional High School District Superintendent Michael Ben-David.

Niche's rankings differ from others that rely almost entirely on test scores and academic performance in that they include input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the United States Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.

According to the platform, Niche incorporated nearly 2.5 million school reviews from students, parents, and teachers, making it the largest online collection of school reviews.

But high school rankings have their critics. In 2013, journalist and former professor and The 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."

Click here to see the full list of New Jersey's top public high schools or click here to see the full list of New Jersey's best private high schools.

This articles includes reporting by Patch editor Josh Bakan.