Bergen County STEM Schools Ranked 2nd, 3rd Best In NJ

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — New Jersey has 23 of the best high schools in America when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as STEM schools, according to new rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

Two Bergen County Schools, Bergen County Academies and Bergen County Technical High School - Teterboro were ranked Nos. 2 and 3 in New Jersey, respectively. Bergen County Academies was in the top 10 overall nationally.

Here are all the top STEM schools in New Jersey, each of which earned a spot among the organization’s top 500 overall high school rankings, also released Wednesday.

• High Technology High School
  • Lincroft
  • STEM rank: 22
• Bergen County Academies
  • Hackensack
  • STEM rank: 43
• Bergen County Technical High School
  • Teterboro
  • STEM rank: 58
• Biotechnology High School
  • Freehold
  • STEM rank: 66
• Dr. Ronald E. McNair High School
  • Jersey City
  • STEM rank: 68
• Union County Magnet High School
  • Scotch Plains
  • STEM rank: 171
• Chatham High School
  • Chatham
  • STEM rank: 181
• Princeton High School
  • Princeton
  • STEM rank: 230
• Academy for Information Technology\
  • Scotch Plains
  • STEM rank: 262
• West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
  • West Windsor
  • STEM rank: 264
• Ridge High School
  • Basking Ridge
  • STEM rank: 318
• Millburn High School
  • Millburn
  • STEM rank: 380
• Montgomery High School
  • Skillman
  • STEM rank: 388
• Highland Park High School
  • Highland Park
  • STEM rank: 397
• Academy for Allied Health Sciences
  • Scotch Plains
  • STEM rank: 413
• West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North
  • Plainsboro
  • STEM rank: 420
• Summit High School
  • Summit
  • STEM rank: 437
• Academy of Allied Health and Science
  • Neptune
  • STEM rank: 452
• Glen Ridge High School
  • Glen Ridge
  • STEM rank: 460

The rankings come as the U.S. finds itself lagging behind many other advanced industrial nations when it comes to math and science. In 2015, the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, ranked the U.S. 38th out of 71 countries for math literacy and 24th for science literacy.

Among the 35 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which sponsors the PISA initiative, America ranked 30th in math and 19th in science.

U.S. News’s STEM high school rankings looked at the the top 500 public schools from the overall rankings and then evaluated for the schools for student participation — and success — in Advanced Placement science and math tests.

AP is a College Board program that offers college-level courses at high schools. Students at these schools “must participate in and pass a robust curriculum of college-level math and science courses,” U.S. News says on its website.

For mathematics, AP courses include Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Computer Science A and Statistics. For science, AP courses include Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics 1, Physics 2, Physics B, Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism and Physics C: Mechanics.

New Jersey, Texas and California each had at least two schools crack the top 10 overall for best STEM schools.

1. High Technology High School (NJ)
2. BASIS Scottsdale (AZ)
3. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (VA)
4. Bergen County Academies (NJ)
5. The Early College at Guilford (NC)
6. Science and Engineering Magnet School (TX)
7. Monta Vista High (CA)
8. Union County Magnet High School (NJ)
9. Saratoga High (CA)
10. DeBakey High School for Health Professions (TX)

Click here to read more about the methodology.

Patch reporters Dan Hampton and Feroze Dhanoa contributed to this report.

Email daniel.hubbard@patch.com. Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.

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