LBANY, N.Y. May 22, 2012 - New York dominates yet another list of the nation's best public schools, accounting for more than 10 percent of America's best high schools - including City Honors School in Buffalo which was named the 11th best public high school in the United States, according to Newsweek and The Daily Beast.
The City Honors ranking is part of a new Newsweek/Daily Beast list naming the nation's top 1,000 public high schools. Statewide, 118 public high schools were named to the list.
Also finishing among the state's top 10 were: Bronxville (40); Jericho (41); Hunter College (44); Bronx High School of Science (50); Locust Valley (55); Great Neck South (56); Pittsford Sutherland (61); The Wheatley School in Old Westbury (62); and Stuyvesant (66).
Nationwide, New York was second only to California in the number of schools in the top 1,000.
"The continued success of our public high schools is a direct result of the hard work by our outstanding teachers and other committed education professionals working in classrooms across New York state who dedicate themselves, day-in and day-out, to ensuring their students receive the best education possible," said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. "The Newsweek/Daily Beast list affirms that our teachers are dedicated professionals who - despite having to contend with drastic cuts in funding and myriad challenges that have come as a result of the state's fiscal constraints - rise to the occasion time and again. It also underscores NYSUT's commitment to fighting cuts that would reverse this track record of excellence."
Reacting to the high City Honors ranking, Buffalo Teachers Federation President Philip Rumore said: "We congratulate and celebrate the success of City Honors, and we also celebrate the hard work of all of our teachers in Buffalo."
The strong showing in the Newsweek/ Daily Beast list comes on the heels of a U.S. News and World Report ranking published earlier this month that rated New York state's high schools second best in the nation, California ranks first.
New York's public school system also was ranked third best nationwide in Education Week's annual "Quality Counts" report released in January, and CNBC issued a recent report showing that education in New York was tops in the nation in 2011 for what businesses need.
In compiling this latest list, Newsweek and The Daily Beast factored a wide range of criteria based on 2010-2011 data reported by more than 2,300 schools nationwide. Those criteria included a school's:
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Four-year on-time graduation rate
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Percentage of 2011 graduates accepted into college
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Percentage of students taking college-level courses and examinations such as AP
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Average SAT/ACT scores
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Average scores on tests such as AP
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College-level curricula offered to students
All 118 New York state public high schools making the Newsweek/Daily Beast list can be found here:
NYSUT, the state's largest union, represents more than 600,000 teachers, school-related professionals, academic and professional faculty in higher education, professionals in education and health care and retirees. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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