P.C. and B.B. high schools among top 40 percent in the United States
September 6, 2023 at 11:56 p.m.
U.S. News & World Report released their yearly “Best High School Rankings” on Tuesday, Aug. 29, wherein they rate and rank over 17,600 public high schools throughout the country.
Scoring well on the annual rankings is certainly a prestigious accomplishment, as schools that are rated in the top 40 percentile are granted permission to purchase and display a U.S. News-trademarked award badge. However, educators don’t necessarily give the rankings much weight.
While both Port Chester High School and Blind Brook High School are featured on the list, administrators firmly believe their placement is not indicative of what makes an educational institution successful.
To calculate a score for each school, U.S. News partnered with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and came up with a complex system that generates a total grade. This system takes six factors into account: College readiness, college curriculum breadth, state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance and graduation rate.
Each of these factors weighs on the final score differently and must be supplied by each school themselves. However, RTI and U.S. News adjust that data if the school is unable to provide it, such as test scores from the 2020-2021 school year. That period saw a significant decline in state assessment participation, as the COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted the quality of education students were capable of receiving throughout the country. To compensate for that data, RTI replaced that number with a score based on the previous three-year average.
Once all that data is collected, or calculated in some cases, the grade is averaged out using formulas that take the national and state averages into account. Additionally, the system attempts to recognize the equity gap found among schools. Unfortunately, RTI reports that many schools don’t have enough data to provide for this and it is largely not considered.
Blind Brook High School was rated the 32nd best in New York in the 2023-24 U.S. News & World Report’s “Best High Schools Rankings.”By David Tapia
With the final score generated, schools are ranked on both a state and national level.
Port Chester High School received a total grade of 86.87, being ranked 227th in the state, up 56 ranks when compared to last year’s survey. This jump can be partially attributed to an increase in Advanced Placement exam participation and graduation rate.
Blind Brook High School was given a 98.5, coming in 32nd in New York, a decline of 11 spots from the 2022-23 report. This change may be because of a slight decrease in AP exam participation. Both schools fall into the top 40 percent of schools in the nation, making them eligible to purchase the “2023-2024 Best High School” badge.
Dr. Aurelia Henriquez, superintendent of the Port Chester School District, expressed pride in seeing how the high school has fared in the rankings.
She was “thrilled to learn that Port Chester High School earned national and metro-area rankings in 2023-2024 Best High Schools,” and credited it to the efforts of the school’s teachers, staff, and parents. Though happy about the results, she also sees beyond the numbers.
“While it is wonderful to be recognized for our hard work and dedication, we believe that the true measure of success lies in the growth and development of our students,” Henriquez wrote in a statement.
Colin Byrne, superintendent of the Blind Brook School District, shared a similar view.
“While Blind Brook typically performs well in rankings such as the one that U.S. News & World Report does annually, we put limited value in these rankings,” Byrne wrote, emphasizing that education is more than just collected data. Nonetheless, he added: “We are proud of the excellent educational program that we provide in Blind Brook and will continue to develop programs based on what our students need to be successful in college and beyond.”
While receiving a high ranking on the yearly U.S. News Best High Schools list is a notable achievement, educators agree that it takes more than an award badge to be an effective educational institution for students.
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