McNair Academic Once Again Near the Top of New Jersey Monthly’s ‘Top High Schools’ List

By • Aug 25th, 2010 • Category: Blog, News

McNair Academic High School has once again landed at the number two spot on New Jersey Monthly‘s bi-annual list of the state’s best high schools.

The Downtown Jersey City magnet school retained its runner-up spot from 2008′s rankings, as did the number one school, Millburn High School, but McNair couldn’t manage to get back to the number one position, which it last held in 2006.

Another bright spot for Jersey City on the list was Liberty High School, which had the second-most improved ranking, jumping from 245 in 2008 to 163 this year. Liberty also ranked 8th among high schools in the poorest school districts of the state; a category in which McNair ranked first.

But Jersey City’s other public high schools didn’t fare as well, with all four ranking lower than they did in the last survey and all falling in the bottom 5 percent of the 322 New Jersey schools measured. Lincoln came in at 305 (down from 291 in ’08), Dickinson at 308 (down from 295), Snyder at 312 (down from 304) and Ferris at 320 (down from 280).

The widely watched list uses the state Department of Education’s School Report Card (this one covering the 2008-09 year). Schools without a report card, such as private, special-education, vocational-technical and some charter schools, are not analyzed. The magazine, with the help of Monmouth University’s Polling Institute, then examines data that broadly falls into three categories: School Environment (average class size, student/faculty and student/computer ratios, percentage of faculty with advanced degrees and number of AP tests offered); Student Performance (SAT scores, state High Proficiency Assessment scores and scores on AP tests); and Student Outcomes (where students go after high school).

For a full list of all the schools, as well as a more detailed explanation of New Jersey Monthy’s methodology, click here.

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is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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  • Jayson

    School ranking methodology always involves baby fat candles, a casting of chicken bones, a sun dance, and a casual nod toward standardized scores. This one is no different.

    Here’s another link to the methodology as the one above seems broken:
    http://tinyurl.com/2cvqtjf

  • http://www.jerseycityindependent.com Jon Whiten

    Thanks for the head’s up on the broken link. Looks like the magazine removed the file from that site; we fixed the link in the story.