According to U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of high-performing schools, Manhasset Secondary School was ranked 87th in the national rankings and 16th in New York.
Manhasset was among 10 Long Island public high schools ranked in the top 200 in the United States and 22 are among the best in New York State. The two other highest-ranking Long Island schools in the publication’s Best High Schools 2014 edition, included Jericho High School coming in 71 in the country and 13 in New York; as well as Great Neck South High School, at 115th nationally and 21st in New York.
The analysts looked at more than 31,200 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and ranked them using three steps. The analysis used state-mandated assessments, participation in and performance on Advance Placement tests, and how effectively schools educated their black, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students.
The Washington Post’s America’s Most Challenging High Schools ranked Manhasset number 14 in the Northeast. In order to determine the Challenge index, the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year and divide by the number of seniors who graduated in May or June.
A school can reach that level if only half of its students take one AP, IB or AICE test in their junior year and one in their senior year. But this year, just 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools managed to reach that standard and earn placement on the Post list.
“It is a great honor for the Manhasset schools to be consistently highly ranked as there are many outstanding high schools and school districts on Long Island as well as throughout the state and the nation. We believe that it is the incredibly high value that the Manhasset Schools place on the 4A’s – Academics, the Arts, Athletics and Afterschool activities- that allows our school community to be considered one of the premier school districts in the nation. Our students, staff, parents and our community as a whole should all share in this honor. We are also aware that there are many other schools on Long Island which should also feel the same sense of pride that Manhasset does as a result of what these schools have also accomplished. We are very appreciative of the national rankings validating Manhasset’s ongoing commitment to excellence, which appears as a visible symbol on the school district’s logo.”
Research has found that even low-performing students who got a 2 on an AP test did significantly better in college than similar students who did not take AP.
