Irvington High 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 you want to know where New York schools rank.

Irvington High School is high on that list. It clocked in at No. 159.

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

Irvington High School received a score of 81.0 in College Readiness with a 96.8 percent graduation rate and 95.9 percent college-bound rate. More:

• Counselor-Student Ratio 1.144
• Student Retention score 0.94
• SAT/ACT Composite Score 64.0
• Avg. SAT Score 1823
• Avg. ACT Score 26
• AP/IB/Dual Enrollment Composite 66.5
• Avg. AP Score 77.1
• Dual Enrollment Participation 17.0
• Poverty: 7.1 percent

Irvington was 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.

Photo credit: Irvington High School PTSA.