Walt Whitman Maintains Ranking As U.S. News Best High School

SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Walt Whitman High School has once again been ranked among the best high schools in Suffolk County by U.S. News and World Report, the South Huntington School District announced.

Walt Whitman High School was ranked No. 21 out of 65 public high schools in Suffolk.

The school has one of the most diverse student populations in the county and maintains a high academic threshold, the district stated.

Walt Whitman’s interim principal, John Murphy, Ed.D., said the South Huntington School District has always looked at its diversity as something to be proud of.

"It’s our strength," Murphy said in a news release. "Our students know how the real world works. They really do push themselves to maintain the same academic rigors as other districts that are homogenous."

Islandwide, Walt Whitman ranked No. 53 out of 192 Long Island high schools. Across the state, Walt Whitman High School remains in the top 15% of New York public high schools, ranking at No. 207 out of 1,376 high schools.

U.S. News uses public data to see how students do on things such as state assessments and AP testing, as well as how a school prepares their students for college.

Walt Whitman High School offers students 30 AP (Advanced Placement) courses as well as 29 college credit courses through local colleges and universities.

The district has been nationally recognized for its Virtual Acceleration Program (VAP) that has proven successful in increasing diversity in the population of students who take AP courses or advanced college credit course work. Studies have shown that students who are exposed to advanced course work are more likely to be successful in their college classes, according to the district.

"It's shown in our U.S. News and World Report placement alongside districts that definitely do not have the diversity of South Huntington, and where students do not experience the same roadblocks that some of our students do, that our students do just as well as anyone, as any other district," Murphy said.

After reviewing 25,000 public high schools across the country for this year’s rankings, U.S. News and World Report concluded, "The highest ranked U.S. public schools in…[the] 2023-2024 Best High Schools rankings are those whose students demonstrated outstanding outcomes above expectations in math, reading and science state assessments, earned qualifying scores in an array of college-level exams, and graduated in high proportions."

For more information on the U.S. News and World Report rankings, click Best High Schools.