Congratulations to the North Shore schools that finished high among Newsweek’s 2013 rankings of the top high schools in the country. The rankings were published on Newsweek’s sister Web site the Daily Beast last week.
We cannot say that we’re surprised. The districts where these public schools are located routinely send us press releases about the accomplishments of their high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. It’s our privilege to report on these accomplishments. In addition we regularly publish columns written by district superintendents.
The students, their teachers and the administrations have every reason to be proud.
Our regular readers should know that their children have the opportunity to attend public schools that compete well with some of the best private schools on Long Island.
The web site’s rankings evaluated the schools based on graduation rate, standardized test scores and student participation in advanced classes. Local schools placed between 67 and 256 of the nearly 2,500 schools that participated.
That’s an enormous accomplishment.
Great Neck South High School ranked 67, Manhasset 75, Wheatley 92, Herricks 177, Great Neck North took 181 and New Hyde Park Memorial 256. The data for the rankings was self-reported by schools.
We note that the Roslyn Public Schools and other districts in our coverage area chose not to participate in this and similar rankings because they believe the way the scoring is done “is detrimental to the stated goal of helping the public to understand how schools and their students are performing.”
That may be true. The rankings are not a complete picture of the schools’ accomplishments. They are, however, an indication of just how fortunate families are to live in this part of Nassau County.
