America’s Top Elementary, Middle, and High Schools By Region
School Year: 2015-2016
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 5Public 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 5Public High Schools | |||||
| 1 | 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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 5Public 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
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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.
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