U.S. News just released its most comprehensive ranking of America’s public high schools. Here’s how the Lehigh Valley’s schools fared.
The 2019 Best High School rankings ditched the gold, silver and bronze medals U.S. News previously used to distinguish the nation’s top schools in favor of ranking thousands more schools with a new methodology. The top ranked schools must serve all student populations well and produce quantifiable academic outcomes in support of that mission.
“Our mission with the Best High Schools rankings has always been to educate families about the schools in their district,” said Anita Narayan, managing editor of Education at U.S. News. “By evaluating more schools than ever before, the new edition expands that focus so all communities can see which schools in their area are successfully serving their students – including historically underserved populations.”
No Lehigh Valley schools ranked high on the national list, but for the first time U.S. News used the national ranking to rate every public school in Pennsylvania. Schools in the bottom 25 percent nationally were not individually ranked at the state level. For Pennsylvania they’re just listed in a range of 516-673.
Massachusetts was the top state in the national because about 49% of its eligible schools ranked in the top 25% of the high school rankings. Pennsylvania came in 17th in the nation with 26% -- or 176 schools -- in the top 25%.
Here’s how Lehigh Valley schools stacked up against others in the state:
- 74. Nazareth Area High school
- 78. Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts
- 82. Southern Lehigh High School
- 104. Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School
- 107. Wilson Area High School
- 125. Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School
- 129. Saucon Valley High School
- 152. Parkland High School
- 155. Emmaus High School
- 169. Northwestern Lehigh High School
- 245. Easton Area High School
- 256. Northampton Area High School
- 260. Whitehall High School
- 336. Salisbury High School
- 352. Roberto Clemente Charter School
- 377. Bangor Area High School
- 387. Freedom High School
- 396. Pen Argyl Area High School
- 444. Liberty High School
- 495. Louis E. Dieruff High School
Unranked schools in the bottom 25 percent: Catasauqua High School; Innovative Arts Academy Charter School; Northern Lehigh High School and William Allen High School.
U.S. News also issued its 2019 best charter high school rankings, featuring three Lehigh Valley charters in the top 500:
- 293. Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts
- 339. Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter School
- 372. Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School
- 700. Roberto Clemente Charter School
- 972-1,760: Innovative Arts Academy Charter School
The methodology: The 2019 rankings are more holistic and look at six factors: college readiness (measured by participation on AP and IB exams), reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates. The old system involved a four-step process which used college readiness as the final step and sole basis to determine a numerical rank.
Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.