PROVIDENCE – Classical, Barrington and East Greenwich high schools continue to be the top-three public high schools in Rhode Island, with the Providence-based high school cracking the national top-100 ranking in 2022, according to U.S. News & World Report’s latest annual Best High School rankings that were released Tuesday.
More than 17,800 high schools across the country were ranked based on six factors – college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates. U.S. News also ranked schools with a focus on charter, magnet and STEM schools.
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Classical was the highest-ranked Rhode Island-based public high school at No. 91 overall, improving its 2021 ranking by 53 spots. Classical and Barrington remain in the national top-500, with Barrington being ranked at No. 308 in 2022 – a drop from its 2021 ranking of No. 289. East Greenwich’s ranking went up from No. 551 in 2021 to No. 411 this year.
East Greenwich was also the only Rhode Island-based school ranked nationally for STEM high schools, placing it at No. 150, an improvement from the No. 234 ranking it had in 2021. Last year, Barrington was ranked No. 192 nationally for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
North Kingstown High School was the fourth-highest Rhode Island-based school ranked nation at No. 1,185, a jump from No. 1,382 a year ago. Portsmouth High School is fifth overall in Rhode Island in 2022 – and No. 1,204 overall. While Portsmouth dropped year to year at the state level, it’s national ranking increased from 2021, when Portsmouth was No. 1,283.
Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy High School was the top-ranked charter school in Rhode Island, according to U.S. News, ranking it No. 265 nationally. Providence-based Paul Cuffee Charter School was next at No. 277, followed by West Greenwich-based The Greene School (No. 585), Beacon Charter School in Woonsocket (No. 952) and Providence-based Village Green Virtual Charter School (No. 1,030).
Based on school performances compared to other states, Rhode Island was ranked No. 8 for having 32.7% of its schools ranked in the top 25% nationally. The Ocean State also had 14.5% of schools ranked in the top 10% nationally and 5.5% of schools in the top 5%.
Massachusetts retains its No. 1 national ranking by having 47.9% of schools ranked in the top 25% nationally. The Bay State also had 21.2% of its schools being ranked in the top 10% nationally and 11.2% of schools ranked in the top 5%.
Connecticut was ranked No. 2, while New Hampshire was ranked No. 12. Vermont, which was No. 8 in 2020, was ranked No. 23 in 2022, and Maine was tied for last with Nebraska out of all the states and Washington, D.C.
A full breakdown on how the local schools rank is found on the U.S. & World Report’s website.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
