160 'Most Challenging' N.J. High Schools: Washington Post Rankings

It's another high school rankings list... but this one is a little different.

The Washington Post ranked what it's considers the "most challenging" high schools in America. Based on the challenging "moniker," you'll see some schools that don't normally appear at the top of the New Jersey list.

But they're certainly top schools, nonetheless, and many of the 160 N.J. schools serve areas that may be more impoverished than other areas - including schools that provide free or discounted lunches, or other subsidies.

The Post's rankings of 2,300 schools is based on an index score derived from the number of college-level tests given at a school in the previous calendar year. That number was then divided by the number of graduates that year.

Also noted are the percentage of students who come from families that qualify for lunch subsidies and the percentage of graduates who passed at least one college-level test during their high school career.

Here are the New Jersey schools, their towns and their national ranks:

1. Elizabeth Elizabeth 73
2. Newark Academy (P) Livingston 109
3. Pingry (P) Martinsville 155
4. Alexander Hamilton Prep Elizabeth 262
5. Princeton Princeton 295
6. Chatham Chatham 339
7. Rumson-Fair Haven Rumson 439
8. Bernards Bernardsville 476
9. Highland Park Highland Park 479
10. Millburn Millburn 524
11. West Morris Mendham Mendham 592
12. Livingston Livingston 605
13. Ridge Basking Ridge 611
14. North Star Newark 633
15. Mountain Lakes M.L. 693
16. Montgomery Skillman 720
17. North Hunterdon Annandale 727
18. Glen Rock Glen Rock 728
19. West Windsor-Plainsboro North Plainsboro 743
20. Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic Jersey City 770
21. Cresskill Cresskill 772
22. West Morris Central Chester 796
23. Cranford Cranford 803
24. Glen Ridge Glen Ridge 841
25. Summit Summit 861
26. Jonathan Dayton Springfield 885
27. John P. Stevens Edison 888
28. Madison Madison 888 Hanover Park
29. East Hanover 890
30. West Windsor-Plainsboro South Princeton Junction 932
31. Ridgewood Ridgewood 939
32. Bergen Arts and Sciences Charter Hackensack 995
33. Academy for Allied Health Sciences Scotch Plains 1010
34. Voorhees Glen Gardner 1025
35. Tenafly Tenafly 1034
36. Governor Livingston Berkeley Heights 1057
37. Academy for Information Technology Scotch Plains 1072
38. Bergenfield Bergenfield 1102
39. Leonia Leonia 1109
40. Ramapo Franklin Lakes 1110
41. Science Park Newark 1110
42. Haddonfield Memorial Haddonfield 1127
43. Montville Township Montville 1146
44. Hunterdon Central Regional Flemington 1154
45. South Brunswick Monmouth Junction 1158
46. Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy Elizabeth 1162
47. Infinity Institute Jersey City 1167
48. Mainland Regional Linwood 1184
49. Whippany Park Whippany 1190
50. West Essex North Caldwell 1237
51. Belleville Belleville 1246
52. Middlesex County Allied Health and Biomedical Science Woodbridge 1284
53. New Providence New Providence 1317
54. Verona Verona 1346
55. Pascack Hills Montvale 1352
56. Marlboro Marlboro 1387
57. Holmdel Holmdel 1389
58. Moorestown Moorestown 1422
59. Northern Highlands Regional Allendale 1428
60. Delaware Valley Frenchtown 1437
61. Scotch Plains-Fanwood Scotch Plains 1461
62. Bridgewater-Raritan Regional Bridgewater 1462
63. Dumont Dumont 1474
64. Northern Valley Regional-Demarest Demarest 1489
65. Shore West Long Branch 1497
66. Pinelands Tuckerton 1500
67. Red Bank Regional Red Bank 1510
68. Hopewell Valley Central Pennington 1520
69. Moreno Valley Angel Fire 1533
70. Fort Lee Fort Lee 1536
71. High Tech North Bergen 1552
72. Midland Park Midland Park 1559
73. Ocean City Ocean City 1570
74. Mahwah Mahwah 1574
75. Westfield Westfield 1576
76. Sparta Sparta 1581
77. Ocean Township Oakhurst 1583
78. Watchung Hills Warren 1616
79. Fair Lawn Fair Lawn 1651
80. East Brunswick East Brunswick 1652
81. Kinnelon Kinnelon 1672
82. Freehold Freehold 1680
83. Columbia Maplewood 1689
84. Marine Academy of Science and Technology Highlands 1695
85. Point Pleasant Boro Point Pleasant 1702
86. Arthur L. Johnson Clark 1715
87. Indian Hills Oakland 1725
88. Parsippany Parsippany 1726
89. Northern Valley Regional-Old Tappan Old Tappan 1745
90. Colts Neck Englishtown 1749
91. Randolph Randolph 1758
92. Pascack Valley Hillsdale 1780
93. Jackson Memorial Jackson 1789
94. Colonia Colonia 1789
95. Somerville Somerville 1791
96. High Point Regional Sussex 1811
97. Manalapan Englishtown 1815
98. Ramsey Ramsey 1824
99. Warren Hills Regional Washington 1826
100. Metuchen Metuchen 1837
101. Hillsborough Hillsborough 1844
102. Delsea Regional Franklinville 1844
103. Waldwick Waldwick 1844
104. Hoboken Hoboken 1871
105. Cherry Hill East Cherry Hill 1872
106. Westwood Township of Washington 1873
107. Hudson Regional Highlands 1874
108. Pitman PItman 1880
109. Timber Creek Regional Sicklerville 1884
110. Raritan Hazlet 1911
111. Egg Harbor Township Egg Harbor Township 1920
112. Dwyer Technology Academy Elizabeth 1923
113. West Orange West Orange 1925
114. Boonton Boonton Township 1932
115. Robbinsville Robbinsville 1935
116. Park Ridge Park Ridge 1936
117. Paramus Paramus 1954
118. Morris Knolls Rockaway 1978
119. Wayne Valley Senior Wayne 1979
120. Dunellen Dunellen 1982
121. Hightstown Hightstown 1993
122. Wayne Hills Wayne 2010
123. Cedar Grove Cedar Grove 2016
124. Eastern Regional Voorhees 2020
125. Freehold Township Freehold Township 2026
126. Central Jersey College Prep Somerset 2038
127. Monroe Township Monroe Township 2041
128. Salem Salem 2045
129. South Plainfield South Plainfield 2048
130. Lawrence Lawrenceville 2057
131. South Hunterdon Lambertville 2058
132. Montclair Montclair 2061
133. Edison Edison 2068
134. Highland Regional Blackwood 2084
135. River Dell Oradell 2092
136. Kittatinny Newton 2093
137. Emerson Emerson 2096
138. Rahway Rahway 2114
139. Schalick Elmer 2115
140. Lindenwold Lindenwold 2136
141. Palisades Park Palisades Park 2139
142. Clearview Mullica Hill 2145
143. Atlantic City Atlantic City 2160
144. Cherry Hill West Cherry Hill 2165
145. Howell Howell 2190
146. Cinnaminson Cinnaminson 2205
147. Paterson Charter School for Science and Technology Paterson 2207
148. Middletown North Middletown Township 2208
149. Matawan Aberdeen 2229
150. North Warren Blairstown 2231
151. Weehawken Weehawken 2233
152. North Brunswick Township North Brunswick 2245
153. Long Branch Long Branch 2249
154. Point Pleasant Beach Point Pleasant Beach 2253
155. Liberty Jersey City 2257
156. Camden Academy Charter Camden 2271
157. Parsippany Hills Parsippany-Troy Hills 2272
158. Kennedy Iselin 2286
159. Seneca Tabernacle 2297
160. Spotswood Spotswood 2302