U.S. News & World Report best high schools: 13 Long Island schools among NY's Top 50

Long Island is home to 13 of the Top 50 schools in the state, according to a new report — but some schools that ranked high on previous lists placed lower this year due to a change in the way the list was compiled.

South Side High School in Rockville Centre was the top school on Long Island, ranking 8th in New York State on the high school rankings released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report. Other top performing schools on the list included North Shore Senior High School in Glen Head, Commack High School, Pierson Middle/High School in Sag Harbor, Locust Valley High School and Hauppauge High School. The schools ranked 11th through 15th, respectively, in New York.

School officials said the high rankings reflect not only challenging academic coursework but also a solid foundation built in lower grades, as well as community support and programs for students seeking career training.

In Commack, educators "have absolutely transformed what public education looks like in a high school," Superintendent Jordan Cox said in an interview, citing new career-focused programs that include hands-on experience for students with an interest in business, healthcare and other fields. "We wanted them to be able to connect what they're learning to the outside world."

The course list at Hauppauge High School includes more than 60 Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes, Superintendent Donald Murphy said in an interview. The school "is setting our kids up for whatever path they want to pursue," he said. Students "are going to great colleges, they're going into the military, they're going into vocational schools or careers."

In Rockville Centre, schools “have expanded our classes and learning experiences, and our students have embraced these new challenges,” Superintendent Matthew Gaven said in a statement. “The strength of South Side is reflected in the opportunities available to every student, the quality of instruction, and the excellent results our students achieve.”

Kristen Turnow, schools superintendent in Locust Valley, said in a statement the school community "creates leaders and fosters academic and personal growth every day."

Rankings drop

On Long Island, some schools experienced dramatic declines in this year’s rankings. Among them were Jericho High School, which fell from 9th in New York last year to 41st; Great Neck South High School, which dropped from 21st to 43rd in the state; and Manhasset Secondary School, which placed 23rd in the state last year and 55th this year.

Last year, Long Island had 11 high schools in the Top 50 in New York on the U.S. News list.

Certain schools in New York and three other states fell in the rankings because U.S. News did not receive information about the share of students from those states who took Advanced Placement tests and how they did on the exams, the publication said. The lack of information about AP results caused some schools to fall in the rankings, though other schools were not negatively affected.

New York’s Department of Education "declined to authorize College Board to share aggregate, school-level information about AP participation and performance with U.S. News," a publication spokesperson said in a statement. The College Board gathers information that U.S. News uses in its rankings.

"Because college readiness and curriculum breadth — which rely on AP and IB exam data — account for 40% of the overall Best High Schools methodology, the exclusion of this data affects the rankings for schools in New York," the spokesperson said.

A state Department of Education spokesman, J.P. O'Hare, said in a statement that the agency makes schools' AP participation rate and other information available on its website, but officials "have concerns about how a for-profit company will benefit from the use of private student data."

In Jericho, schools Superintendent Robert Kravitz noted that in addition to the lack of AP results, the data used in the rankings are from the 2023-24 school year. Kravitz took the helm in the district last year.

“While rankings can provide one perspective on a school district, they do not fully capture the breadth of our students’ accomplishments, the opportunities available to them, or the dedication and commitment of our faculty and staff,” Kravitz said in a statement. Educators in the district “strongly encourage our students to challenge themselves academically and take advantage of advanced courses whenever appropriate. Our philosophy is to provide students with opportunities to pursue the most rigorous coursework available to them while ensuring they have the support necessary to be successful.”

The new report did include Regents exam results. U.S. News reported that Jericho students demonstrated proficiency on Regents exams at rates of 96% in math, 99% in reading and 97% in science, compared with the statewide averages of 60%, 80% and 60%, respectively.

Rankings impact

In communities where top-ranked schools help attract new families, a decline in the rankings could cause homebuyers to hesitate, though it’s unlikely to have a lasting impact if it’s only a temporary fluctuation, said Nick Sakalis, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker American Homes in Syosset.

“If it dips a little bit one year, it might have a little bit backlash, but it won't be anything long term,” he said. “But if it happens consecutive times, it could become a real big problem.”

Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said this year's rankings should prompt a larger discussion about how schools are evaluated.

"It ... gets to a bigger question that we've been talking about: how do you define successful schools in today's environment?" Vecchio said. On-time graduation rates and college readiness programs are important measures, he said. But many schools also serve students well by offering strong career and technical education programs in subjects that include advanced manufacturing and healthcare, he said.

"It's a great opportunity to have that conversation about how you define successful school systems," Vecchio said. 

The other states that did not make AP data available were Colorado, Maine and Vermont, the U.S. News spokesperson said. In those states, U.S. News used data about International Baccalaureate, or IB, exams instead of AP tests, the spokesperson said.

The affected schools’ U.S. News profiles include notices explaining the change, the spokesperson said.

The publication evaluated 27,000 public high schools and ranked 18,000 of them based on measures that include student achievement on state-mandated assessments, graduation rates, college readiness, how well schools support underserved students and curriculum breadth.

The rankings "empower families with the valuable data and transparency they need to help make the best educational choices for them," LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News, said in a statement.

In Massachusetts, 47% of public high schools ranked in the top quarter of U.S. high schools, the highest share in the nation. The next highest rates were in New Jersey, with 44%, and Maryland with 43%. 

The nation’s top-ranked school was Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S. News found.