Best New Jersey High Schools In America, 2017: U.S. News And World Report

Some New Jersey high schools that have not appeared on "best" lists in the past have finally found their way to the top of the newly released U.S. News and World Report rankings.

U.S. News and World Report has crunched the numbers for 2017, releasing its annual list of best public high schools in the country on Tuesday and ranking the schools on a national and a state level.

High Technology High School — which routinely tops such lists — found its way on the top of this one. But high schools that typically don't rank, such as Toms River North, are finally getting the acclaim they deserve (see list below).

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include data on more than 20,000 high schools. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.

Here are those steps:

• The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state, factoring in percentages of economically disadvantaged students to identify schools.
• Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for the least-advantaged students.
• For the next two steps, U.S. News looked at graduation rates and college readiness performance. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year.
• Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th graders who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school. To be ranked numerically nationally, schools had to pass steps 1-3 and have a college readiness index of 20.91 or above.

A total of 6,041 schools were ranked, 500 schools receiving gold medals, 2,109 schools receiving silver medals and the remaining 3,432 schools received bronze medals. Schools that received bronze medals passed the first three steps but were not ranked numerically in the national rankings.

The state rankings were based on whether a high school received a gold, silver or a bronze medal and had a CRI value of 10 or higher. Previously, only gold and silver medal winners were ranked numerically on the state level.

Here is the list of the top 85 schools in New Jersey, and how they rank nationally:

1. High Technology High School, Lincroft (#16 in National Rankings)
2. Dr. Ronald E McNair High School, Jersey City (#49 in National Rankings)
3. Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro, Teterboro (#63 in National Rankings)
4. Union County Magnet High School, Scotch Plains (#105 in National Rankings)
5. Elizabeth High School Elizabeth (#154 in National Rankings)
6. Princeton High School, Princeton (#155 in National Rankings)
7. Chatham High School, Chatham (#189 in National Rankings)
8. Academy for Allied Health Sciences, Scotch Plains, (#200 in National Rankings)
9. Marine Academy of Science and Technology, Highlands (#206 in National Rankings)
10. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, Plainsboro (#276 in National Rankings)
11. Livingston High School, Livingston (#296 in National Rankings)
12. Summit Senior High School, Summit (#305 in National Rankings)
13. Millburn High School, Millburn (#316 in National Rankings)
14. Glen Ridge High School, Glen Ridge (#317 in National Rankings)
15. Ridge High School, Basking Ridge (#318 in National Rankings)
16. Academy of Allied Health and Science, Neptune (#378 in National Rankings)
17. Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy, Elizabeth (#393 in National Rankings)
18. West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, West Windsor (#400 in National Rankings)
19. Mountain Lakes High School, Mountain Lakes (#407 in National Rankings)
20. Tenafly High School, Tenafly (#437 in National Rankings)
21. Middlesex County Academy for Allied Health, Woodbridge (#446 in National Rankings)
22. Academy for Information Technology (#459 in National Rankings)
23. Northern Highlands Regional High School, Allendale (#470 in National Rankings) ,>
24. ,>North Star Academy Charter School of Newark, Newark (#472 in National Rankings)
25. Montgomery High School, Skillman (#493 in National Rankings)
26. Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood (#583 in National Rankings)
27. Park Ridge High School, Park Ridge (#598 in National Rankings)
28. High Tech High School, North Bergen (#660 in National Rankings)
29. Jonathan Dayton High School, Springfield (#675 in National Rankings)
30. John P. Stevens High School, Edison (#711 in National Rankings)
31. Ramapo High School, Franklin Lakes (#723 in National Rankings)
32. Hopewell Valley Central High School, Pennington (#738 in National Rankings)
33. West Morris Mendham High School, Mendham (#750 in National Rankings)
34. Communications High School, Wall (#761 in National Rankings)
35. Leonia High School, Leonia (#762 in National Rankings)
36. Highland Park High School, Highland Park (#784 in National Rankings)
37. Bergenfield High School, Bergenfield (#815 in National Rankings)
38. Pascack Hills High School, Montvale (#832 in National Rankings)
39. West Morris Central High School, Chester (#846 in National Rankings)
40. Science Park High School, Newark, (#848 in National Rankings)
41. Infinity Institute, Jersey City (#862 in National Rankings)
42. Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School, Scotch Plains (#898 in National Rankings)
43. Bergen Arts And Sciences Charter School, Garfield (#931 in National Rankings)
44. Mahwah High, Mahwah (#1020 in National Rankings)
45. Ramsey High School, Ramsey (#1025 in National Rankings)
46. Dumont High School, Dumont (#1041 in National Rankings)
47. Hunterdon Central Regional High School, Flemington (#1043 in National Rankings)
48. Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School, Bridgewater (#1052 in National Rankings)
49. Robbinsville High School, Robbinsville (#1146 in National Rankings)
50. Central Jersey College Prep Charter School, Somerset (#1186 in National Rankings)
51. Moorestown High School, Moorestown (#1200 in National Rankings)
52. Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill (#1248 in National Rankings)
53. Parsippany High School, Parsippany (#1302 in National Rankings)
54. River Dell Regional High School, Oradell (#1319 in National Rankings)
55. Westwood Junionr/Senior High School, Township Of Washington (#1347 in National Rankings)
56. Emerson Jr Sr High, Emerson (#1353 in National Rankings)
57. Bergen County Academies, Hackensack (#1369 in National Rankings)
58. Fort Lee High School, Fort Lee (#1441 in National Rankings)
59. Morris Hills High School, Rockaway (#1477 in National Rankings)
60. Parsippany Hills High School, Morris Plains (#1684 in National Rankings)
61. Manasquan High School, Manasquan (#1752 in National Rankings)
62. Cedar Grove High School, Cedar Grove (#1756 in National Rankings)
63. Montclair High School, Montclair (#1813 in National Rankings)
64. Point Pleasant Beach High School, Point Pleasant Beach (#2004 in National Rankings)
65. New Milford High School, New Milford (#2078 in National Rankings)
66. Toms River High School North, Toms River (#2244 in National Rankings)
67. Matawan Regional High School, Matawan-Aberdeen (#2254 in National Rankings) ,>
68. ,>Bogota Jr./Sr. High School,, Bogota (#2446 in National Rankings)
69. Dover High School, Dover (#2462 in National Rankings)
70. Union County Tech, Scotch Plains (#2529 in National Rankings)
71. Secaucus High School, Secaucus (#2548 in National Rankings)
72. Middlesex High School, Middlesex
73. Liberty High School, Jersey City
74. Arts High School, Newark
75. Technology High School, Newark
76. Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High School, Camden
77. Ridgefield Park Jr Sr High School, Ridgefield Park
78. Phillipsburg High School, Phillipsburg
79. East Orange STEM Academy High School, East Orange
80. Collingswood High School, Collingswood
81. Biotechnology High School, Freehold
82. Foundation Academy Charter School, Trenton
83. County Prep High School, Jersey City
84. University High School, Newark
85. Bayonne High School, Bayonne

See the whole list here.