Three North Shore high schools are among the top 200 – or top 1 percent – in the country, according to newly released rankings from U.S. News and World Report, making up half of the Long Island schools with that designation.
The Wheatley School in the East Williston Union Free School District was ranked 180th, Great Neck South High School – which serves children in Great Neck and New Hyde Park – was ranked 195th, and Manhasset Secondary School was ranked number 200.
The other Long Island Schools represented were Jericho Senior High School at 98th, Cold Spring Harbor High School at 143rd, and Garden City High School at 169th.
U.S. News and World Report looked at 20,548 high schools across the nation.
Factors involved in the ranking included test scores, graduation rates, college preparedness, how the school did compared to others in the state and how well its traditionally under-served students performed.
Eight North Shore schools were also among the top 100 schools of the 1,263 measured by U.S. News and World Report in New York State.
The Wheatley School was ranked 27th, Great Neck South 29th, Manhasset Secondary School 31st, Paul D. Schrieber High School was 33rd, Roslyn High School 35th, Great Neck North 38th, Herricks High School 47th and New Hyde Park Memorial High School was 83rd.
Mineola High School was not ranked for the second year in a row.
Sean Feeney, the principal of the Wheatley School, said it’s “always good to get some external acknowledgment,” but that U.S. News and World Report has used out of date measurements before and does not look at the value of the arts, community engagement, and the overall student experience.
“I think these attempts to rank high schools on different criteria are often misguided and don’t acknowledge or recognize the full experience of most high schools,” Feeney said.
Three schools within Blank Slate Media’s coverage area were also among the top 200 schools in the nation in last year’s reports: Great Neck North High School at 164th, Manhasset High School at 177th, and Great Neck South High School at 195th.
Six schools also made it into the top 100 statewide: Great Neck North at no. 21, Manhasset Secondary School at rank 25, Great Neck South High ranking 30th, Roslyn High School at 32nd, Herricks High School at 33rd and Port Washington’s Paul D. Schreiber High School at rank no. 36.
Mineola High School, New Hyde Park Memorial High School, Floral Park Memorial High School and the Wheatley School – now a top school in the report – did not receive rankings last year.
