Clarkstown South is 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 want to know where New York schools rank.

Clarkstown High School South made that list. It clocked in at No. 167 out of 500 schools nationwide considered the best.

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

Clarkstown South received a score of 81.3 in College Readiness with a 99.7 percent graduation rate and 98.9 percent college-bound rate. More:

• Student Retention 0.98
• SAT/ACT Composite Score 50.1
• Avg. SAT Score 1626
• Avg. ACT Score 25
• AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Composite 74.1
• Avg. AP Score 84.2
• Avg. IB Score 4.0
• Dual Enrollment Participation 22.2
• Poverty rate: 5.3 percent

Clarkstown South was among several lower Hudson Valley high schools that made it onto Newsweek’s 2016 list of the best high schools in the country, eight on the Top 500 list with two in the Top 100.

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 local 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 in a letter to the Washington Post.