VHS Makes Another Top High Schools List

Verona High School has made U.S. News & World Report‘s 2014 Best High Schools list.

VHS was ranked 913 nationally out of 19,400 high schools and 32 within 398 schools in the state of New Jersey, earning a silver medal overall. This is the first time since that Verona has appeared on the list, which has been published in six out of the last eight years.

To be ranked by U.S. News, a high school must first have high scores on state standardized tests and then have a large percentage of its students successfully taking Advanced Placement exams. In 2011, VHS revised its curriculum to push more students into AP classes and testing. VHS’s work on AP tests earned it a 36.6 out of 100 on U.S. News’ “college readiness” index. The top-ranked New Jersey school was Biotechnology High School in Freehold, which scored a 100 on college readiness.

Only two other schools in Verona’s group of comparable high schools made the U.S. News list. Glen Ridge was ranked 22 with a 52.3 score on college readiness, and Mahwah at 31 with a 36.9.

Earlier this month, Superintendent Steve Forte announced that VHS had seen a substantial improvement in its rank on the Washington Post’s list of America’s most challenging high schools.