U.S News: R.I. ninth in U.S. for best high schools

FOR THE SECOND year in a row, Classical High School was ranked the best high school in Rhode Island, according to U.S. News and World Report’s best high schools list.
FOR THE SECOND year in a row, Classical High School was ranked the best high school in Rhode Island, according to U.S. News and World Report’s best high schools list.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island placed ninth overall in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2016 list of top high schools across the nation, the news bureau announced Tuesday.

Of the 56 Rhode Island high schools measured by U.S. News, 10 schools were highlighted with two schools receiving gold medals and eight receiving silver medals.

Rhode Island’s top high school, Classical High School, placed 218 overall in the U.S. News report and was awarded a gold medal. It also was named the top high school in Rhode Island last year.

Under the guidance of Principal Scott D. Barr the 173-year-old Providence-based public magnet school has 1,133 students enrolled with a senior class of 275 pupils. Classical High School students follow a college preparatory curriculum which includes multiple honors classes as well as 20 advanced placement courses.

- Advertisement -

According to Classical High School, 96 percent of the Class of 2014’s graduates were accepted by, and matriculated to, 60 colleges and universities throughout the country.

The other Rhode Island high school to receive a gold medal was Barrington High School, also a public school, which ranked 400 overall in the U.S. News report. In addition, Barrington High School placed 144 out of the top 250 STEM schools in the nation.

The Rhode Island-based high schools that received silver medals are Portsmouth High School, East Greenwich High School, North Kingstown High School, Lincoln Senior High School, Middletown High School, Narragansett High School, Chariho High School and Mt. Hope High School.

The 2016 report’s methodology took into account, for the first time, a high school’s graduation rate and the 6,218 schools recognized in the findings have a 15 percent higher graduation rate, on average, than other schools.

Anita Narayan, managing editor of education at U.S. News, said: “A high school education is imperative for success in both college and a career, and a school’s graduation rate is a key indicator of whether students are being effectively prepared for both paths. The 2016 Best High Schools rankings provide students and parents with data-driven information on public schools to help them make better-informed decisions about their education.”

Maryland ranked first on the list for having the highest percentage of nationally ranked public high schools, followed by Connecticut. Massachusetts was fifth on the list and Maine, seventh.

No posts to display

1 COMMENT