NJ third in U.S. News public high school rankings
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Annual rankings in the 2025 U.S. News & world Report Best High Schools are out - and New Jersey has the third-best performance of any state, with 40.4% of its public high schools ranking in the top quarter among 18,000 of the nation;s best high schools.
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Massachusetts and Connecticut fared slightly better than new Jersey by a few percentage points each, with 43.2% and 40.9% of there high schools making the top 25% of the rankings.
..... As in previous years, New Jersey's highly-ranked magnet and STEM-focused public high schools, which admit students based on a competitive process, swept the top 10 high school spots in the in-state rankings.
..... Bergen County Academies in Hackensack ranked 41st nationally and second in the in-state ranking, behind High Technology High School in Lincroft, which ranked 27th nationally. The highest-ranked district high school in New Jersey's in-state rankings is Millburn High School in Essex County, taking 12th place behind the state's top-performing magnet and STEM academies. It ranked 244th nationally.
..... Glen Ridge High School, also in Essex County, took 13th place in the in-state rankings, and 282nd nationally. Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest ranked 18th in-state, and Livingston High School in Essex County ranked 20th.
..... Edison Academy Magnet School in Middlesex County ranked third in the state. Dr. Ronald E. McNair High School in Jersey City ranked fourth, Union County Magnet High School inn Scotch Plains ranked fifth, biotechnology High School in Freehold ranked sixth and Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro seventh.
..... Other magnet and specialty public schools that made the state's top 10 high schools are the Academy for Information Technology and Academy for allied Health Sciences in Scotch Plains and the Marine Academy of Science and Technology in Highlands.
..... High Technology High School in Lincroft, Monmouth County, ranked first in the state and is the nation's top-ranking STEM high school. The small, 282-student magnet school serving grades 9 through 12 specializes in engineering and the overlap of technology and STEM education with the humanities, the state website says.
..... The top-ranked public schools, said U.S. News & World Report, are "those whose students earned outstanding scores in math, reading and science state assessments; took and earned a qualifying score in an array of college-level exams; and graduated in high proportions."
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For the report, nearly 18,000 public high schools were ranked using a formula. Overall, the ranking takes into account six key performance indicators including how students do on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests, the school's curriculum, and how well they serve all populations U.S. News said.