By Andres Picon
Irvington High School was recently ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top schools in both the state and the country .
Some students are excited about IHS’s high rank. Junior Caleigh Gizzi, thinks the fact that IHS was ranked so highly is “so cool,” while Matina Mountroukas commented that this ranking “says a lot about our education system.”
IHS was ranked as the 32nd best high school in NY State and the 215th best high school in the country. Many of the schools near Irvington also ranked very highly. For example, Hastings, Chappaqua, Byram Hills, and Edgemont were ranked as the 24th, 25th, 27th, and 29th best schools in the state respectively. Briarcliff High School edged out Irvington, earning the title of 31st best high school in New York.
The U.S. News annual high school rankings include data for over 21,000 public high schools around the country. Schools are ranked and awarded either a gold, silver, or bronze medal depending on their college readiness index and their performance on state assessments.
Some students do not fully support the ranking system. IHS junior Mallory Toolan said, “I think it’s messed up how schools are ranked based on AP’s instead of grades.”
Hastings owned the best national ranking among the nearby schools, earning the #153 spot in the country. The Sleepy Hollow and Scarsdale high schools ranked the lowest among the schools of the area, taking the 690th and 686th spots on the list respectively.
Macie Wasserberger, a junior from Scarsdale High School, said, “I think the rankings really are not an accurate picture of what Scarsdale High School really is… we don’t have AP’s so that really brings down our ranking but students still put in the rigor and work required in an AP class in an advanced class, making the ranking unjustified.”
