Red Hook, Rhinebeck Highs Are High on Newsweek's 2016 List of Top High Schools in the Country

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 you want to know where New York schools rank.

Red Hook Senior High School and Rhinebeck High School are high on the list. Red Hook clocked in at No. 350; Rhinebeck, at No. 388.

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

Red Hook Senior High School received a score of 75.4 in College Readiness with a 97.5 percent graduation rate and 87.9 percent college-bound rate. More:

• Counselor-Student Ratio 1.167
• Student Retention score 0.86
• SAT/ACT Composite Score 55.3
• Avg. SAT Score 1664
• Avg. ACT Score 27
• AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Composite 65.9
• Avg. AP Score 76.2
• Dual Enrollment Participation 6.3
• Poverty: 15.5 percent

Rhinebeck High School received a score of 75.1 in College Readiness with a 94.0 percent graduation rate and 94.9 percent college-bound rate. More:

• Counselor-Student Ratio 1.185
• Student Retention score 0.88
• SAT/ACT Composite Score 48.8
• Avg. SAT Score 1657
• AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Composite 70.4
• Avg. AP Score 84.4
• Dual Enrollment Participation 6.8
• Poverty: 8.6 percent

Red Hook and Rhinebeck were among several lower Hudson Valley high schools that made it onto Newsweek’s 2016 list of the best high schools in the country, two in the Top 100 and eight on the Top 500 list.

The Newsweek rankings have long been controversial among officials in the lower Hudson Valley's small, elite school districts, where residents and officials are sensitive about reputation.

Back in 2008, many lower Hudson Valley school districts tried to boycott the rankings.

"Determining whether different schools do or don't offer a high quality of education requires a look at many different measures, including students' overall academic accomplishments and their subsequent performance in college, and taking into consideration the unique needs of their communities. Students and school communities deserve better than simplistic and misleading school rankings," said superintendents from 34 schools, including 19 from the lower Hudson Valley.