Two Merrick Schools Named to Newsweek's List of Country's Best High Schools

Newsweek’s list of the best public high schools in the country was released Thursday morning — and it’s one you’ll want to pay attention to if you care about local-school quality and want to know where New York schools rank.

We know you see a lot of lists: 10 Most Redneck Towns; 20 Least-Affordable States; Fattest Counties in the United States; Best Cities for People with 2 Kids, 1 Dog but No Cats.

Newsweek’s rankings of the best public high schools in the country stand apart. The school rankings are borne of legitimate research. Newsweek uses legitimate and objective measurements to put together its annual ranking of the country’s best high schools.

And just in time for the start of school, Newsweek has released its 2016 list, which is chock full of New York schools, a total of 59 in all. Twelve New York high schools made the top 100 in the rankings. That is down from 14 in 2015.

John F. Kennedy High School came in at No. 160 on the list, and Sanford H. Calhoun High School was NO. 300.

Here's a look at every New York school that made the list of the top 500 public high schools in the country:

• No. 4- Stuyvesant High School, Manhattan
• No. 11- Staten Island Technical High School, Staten Island
• No. 19- Townsend Harris, Flushing
• No. 33- Briarcliff High School, Briarcliff Manor
• No. 38- Great Neck South High School, Great Neck
• No. 45- Jericho High School, Jericho
• No. 62- Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn
• No. 63- HS for Math, Science, and Engineering at the City College of New York, Manhattan
• No. 65- Pittsford Mendon High School, Pittsford
• No. 92- Manhasset High School, Manhasset
• No. 93- Pittsford Sutherland High School, Pittsford
• No. 98- Rye High School, Rye
• No. 118- Syosset High School, Syosset
• No. 125- Fayetteville-Manlius High School, Manlius
• No. 133- Bard High School Early College Queens, Long Island City
• No. 134- George W. Hewlett High School, Hewlett
• No. 135- Harrison High School, Harrison
• No. 142- Great Neck North High School, Great Neck
• No. 159- Irvington High School, Irvington
• No. 160- John F. Kennedy High School, Bellmore
• No. 167- Clarkstown High School South, West Nyack
• No. 187- Fairport High School, Fairport
• No. 188- Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Manhattan
• No. 194- Eastchester High School, Eastchester
• No. 207- Herricks High School, New Hyde Park
• No. 212- Garden City High School, Garden City
• No. 214- Brighton High School, Rochester
• No. 221- Manhattan Hunter Science High School, Manhattan
• No. 225- New Hartford Senior High School, New Hartford
• No. 231- Smithtown High School West, Smithtown
• No. 239- Sayville High School, West Sayville
• No. 246- Shenendehowa High School, Clifton Park
• No. 264- Orchard Park High School, Orchard Park
• No. 265- Victor Senior High School, Victor
• No. 266- Wellington C. Mepham High School, Bellmore
• No. 270- Niskayuna High School, Schenectady
• No. 300- Sanford H. Calhoun High School, Merrick
• No. 302- Millennium High School, Manhattan
• No. 305- Bethpage High School, Bethpage
• No. 314- Half Hollow Hills High School West, Dix Hills
• No. 328- Shaker High School, Latham
• No. 340- Westlake High School, Thornwood
• No. 344- Skaneateles High School, Skaneateles
• No. 347- East Aurora High School, East Aurora
• No. 350- Red Hook Senior High School, Red Hook
• No. 358- Mount Sinai High School, Mount Sinai
• No. 363- Saratoga Springs High School, Saratoga Springs
• No. 372- Webster Thomas High School, Webster
• No. 374- Lynbrook High School, Lynbrook
• No. 379- Ballston Spa High School, Ballston Spa
• No. 388- Rhinebeck High School, Rhinebeck
• No. 401- Massapequa High School, Massapequa
• No. 412- Williamsville North High School, Williamsville
• No. 416- Williamsville South High School, Williamsville
• No. 418- Hauppauge High School, Hauppauge
• No. 423- Willamsville East High School, East Amherst
• No. 448- Paul D. Schreiber High School, Port Washington
• No. 463- Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, Port Jefferson
• No. 469- Vestal Senior High School, Vestal

Find the full list here.

So, how did Newsweek come up with the rankings?

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achieve a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how well high schools prepare students for college.

Those measurements and their weight are:

• Holding power: 10 percent
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percent
• Weighted SAT/ACT: 17.5 percent
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percent
• Graduation rate: 20 percent
• College enrollment rate: 25 percent

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

Newsweek used school performance data from the National Center for Education Statistics to narrow the list of schools.

Of those 6,477 schools, 4,760 were considered for the overall rankings, while 4,452 made the cut for another list of schools “beating the odds.” (Many schools made both lists.)

For the “beating the odds” rankings, a school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools with similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia, took the top spot in this year’s overall rankings for the third year in a row. The school has been a regular powerhouse on previous best schools rankings and puts an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes.

Photo: Google Maps.