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America’s Best Elementary, Middle, and High Schools By Region

Jun 20, 2017 | by: Dr. Andrew Schiller | School District
America’s Best Elementary, Middle, and High Schools By Region

America’s Top Elementary, Middle, and High Schools By Region

School Year:  2015-2016

About Scout’s patented & nationally-comparable school ratings

You have children in school now or have little ones who are soon to begin. Are you excited about the school they attend, or concerned about its quality?

Despite news to the contrary, America is blessed with thousands of excellent public schools which are chock full of exceptional teachers, managed by top-notch administrators, and filled with outstanding students. But where are these top schools, and is there one near you?

NeighborhoodScout.com did all the research using its patent-pending school quality rating algorithm, based on both national and state-specific test scores, to uncover the very best of the best. We searched over 100,000 public schools in all 50 states to come up with this highly selective list of winners. For the first time ever, NeighborhoodScout’s exclusive school ratings system allows parents, teachers and others to accurately compare the quality of individual schools in different states using the rich data from the No Child Left Behind test scores, despite the No Child Left Behind tests being state-specific. The results are truly eye-opening.

Our approach gives top scores based on outcomes. That is, our ratings are based on outstanding student test scores. Some may give an A for effort, or even for year-over-year improvement. Yet trying hardest doesn’t mean achieving the highest scores, and being most improved does not mean the best. Here we focus on those schools that prove they are the best by being tops in student test scores. All of the schools included here are classified by the U.S. Department of Education as regular elementary or secondary schools. Some are charter schools, some are magnet schools, but all are public. That means they are free if you live in the area where you can attend them. No private school pricing here. Some are in modestly priced communities, and some are in expensive towns. Without further delay, here are America’s 5 best Public Elementary, Middle, and High Schools by region: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. The regions are those defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.

The winners are:

Rank School Name National Educational Rating State Educational Rating City State
Northeast – Top 5 Public Elementary Schools
1 School 28 99.99 100.00 Paterson NJ
2 Success Academy Charter School-Crown Heights 99.97 100.00 Brooklyn NY
3 Success Academy Charter School-Bedford Stuyvesant 99.96 99.97 Brooklyn NY
4 Ps 77 Lower Lab School 99.95 99.94 New York NY
5 Anderson School (The) 99.95 99.92 New York NY
Northeast – Top 5 Public Middle Schools
1 Is 187 Christa Mcauliffe School (The) 99.94 99.82 Brooklyn NY
2 Mendham Township Middle School 99.93 99.89 Brookside NJ
3 East Side Middle School 99.92 99.72 New York NY
4 Ms 255 Salk School Of Science 99.82 99.27 New York NY
5 Academy For Science And Design Charter (M) 99.81 98.90 Nashua NH
Northeast – Top 5 Public High Schools
1 Middlesex County Voc Academy Math Science &Enginee 100.00 99.86 Edison NJ
2 Academy For Mathematics Science And Engineering 100.00 99.86 Rockaway NJ
3 High Technology High School 99.99 99.46 Lincroft NJ
4 Academy For Allied Health Sciences 99.99 99.19 Scotch Plains NJ
5 Union County Magnet High School 99.99 98.92 Scotch Plains NJ
Midwest – Top 5 Public Elementary Schools
1 Kings Elementary School  100.00 100.00 Kings IL
3 Leonardo Da Vinci School For Gifted Learners  99.98 100.00 Green Bay WI
2 Keller Elem Gifted Magnet School  99.98 99.97 Chicago IL
4 Iles Elem School  99.98 99.93 Springfield IL
5 Odyssey-Magellan  99.98 99.94 Appleton WI
Midwest – Top 5 Public Middle Schools
1 Thurgood Marshall School 99.94 99.73 Rockford IL
2 Accelerated Advanced Learning Program 99.91 99.87 Oshkosh WI
3 Washington Gifted School 99.90 99.59 Peoria IL
4 Marie Murphy School 99.79 99.42 Wilmette IL
5 Daniel Wright Jr High School 99.74 99.29 Lincolnshire IL
Midwest – Top 5 Public High Schools
1 Northside College Preparatory Hs 100.00 100.00 Chicago IL
2 Payton College Preparatory Hs 99.98 99.83 Chicago IL
3 Signature School Inc 99.96 100.00 Evansville IN
4 Young Magnet High School 99.96 99.83 Chicago IL
5 Lane Technical High School 99.92 99.66 Chicago IL
South – Top 5 Public Elementary Schools
1 Jacksonville Beach Elementary School 99.95 99.95 Jacksonville Beach FL
2 Madison Street Academy Of Visual And Performing Ar 99.93 99.86 Ocala FL
3 Freedom 7 Elementary School Of International Studi 99.91 99.80 Cocoa Beach FL
4 Dr N H Jones Elementary School 99.89 99.76 Ocala FL
5 Britt David Elementary Computer Magnet Academy 99.89 99.94 Columbus GA
South – Top 5 Public Middle Schools
1 Okaloosa Stemm Center 99.95 99.95 Valparaiso FL
2 Doral Academy Of Technology 99.95 99.90 Doral FL
3 Kittredge Magnet School 99.93 100.00 Brookhaven GA
4 Archimedean Middle Conservatory 99.92 99.83 Miami FL
5 William B Travis Acdmy/Vngrd For Academically Tag 99.91 99.98 Dallas TX
South – Top 5 Public High Schools
1 Gwinnett School Of Mathematics- Science And Techno 99.96 100.00 Lawrenceville GA
2 Charter School Of Wilmington 99.95 100.00 Wilmington DE
3 Stanton College Preparatory 99.95 100.00 Jacksonville FL
4 Benjamin Banneker Hs 99.90 100.00 Washington DC
5 School For The Talented And Gifted 99.89 99.96 Dallas TX
West – Top 5 Public Elementary Schools
1 Polaris At Ebert Elementary School 99.99 100.00 Denver CO
2 Dennison Elementary School 99.97 99.92 Lakewood CO
3 Challenge School 99.96 99.84 Denver CO
4 Bear Creek Elementary School 99.96 99.76 Boulder CO
5 Aurora Quest K-8 99.94 99.69 Aurora CO
West – Top 5 Public Middle Schools
1 The Connect Charter School 99.94 99.61 Pueblo CO
2 Cherry Hill Gt Program 99.91 100.00 Orem UT
3 Mesa Academy For Advanced Studies 99.90 100.00 Mesa AZ
4 Arizona College Prep Oakland Campus 99.84 99.84 Chandler AZ
5 East Grand Middle School 99.83 99.21 Granby CO
West – Top 5 Public High Schools
1 The Center School 99.99 99.67 Seattle WA
2 Mercer Island High School 99.99 99.35 Mercer Island WA
3 Mount Baker Senior High 99.98 99.02 Deming WA
4 Nova High School 99.97 98.70 Seattle WA
5 Leaders In Learning 99.93 98.37 Monroe WA

 

What is Special about Our Data – NeighborhoodScout’s Best Public Schools in America

When any study is conducted to compare and rate schools, the methodology is key. The findings reported here use each school’s own No Child Left Behind test scores, yet standardized by NeighborhoodScout’s exclusive patent-pending methodology for national comparison.

For the first time ever, this exclusive school ratings system allows parents, teachers and others to openly compare the quality of individual schools in different states using the rich data from the NCLB test scores, despite the NCLB tests being state-specific.

The comparisons are made possible by NeighborhoodScout’s patent-pending school rating algorithm, which uses each state’s student passing rate on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), a national test, to normalize the No Child Left Behind test scores at each public school in each state.

Here is how NeighborhoodScout’s patent-pending school rating system works

License our Data
Location, Inc. offers the most in-depth national coverage of neighborhood data available today.  With 2,723 data elements, hundreds of which are exclusive or proprietary to Location, Inc., these data are perfectly suited for risk assessment, target marketing, real estate investment, insurance underwriting, property valuation models, and more.

To find out how our data can help your business increase revenues and save time and money, contact our direct sales team at: info@locationinc.com

About Location, Inc.
Location, Inc. is a research and data mining company born of university research, specializing in location analysis, demographic and school data information products, and location-based decision-making tools for businesses and consumers. The Company licenses data for a host of business to business applications. Location, Inc. is the owner of NeighborhoodScout.com, a national neighborhood data source and search engine which has served 7.8 million home buyers and businesses since its 2002 inception. The Company is based in Rhode Island.

About Dr. Schiller
Dr. Andrew Schiller is the Founder, President and Chairman of Location, Inc. and is responsible for inventing the methods and technology that power NeighborhoodScout.com. He is also responsible for designing studies and reports for various media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Money Magazine, Parade Magazine, Smart Money, The New York Times, and others.

Prior to founding NeighborhoodScout, Andrew received his Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University’s Graduate School of Geography, America’s oldest and largest geography Ph.D. program. Previously he was a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Atomic Energy Complex. He was also a Director of Science for the Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter. He has conducted research and published with Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Stanford University. He is an expert in statistics, demographic and risk analysis, and interpreting the relationships among environmental, social and economic conditions in the United States.