U.S. News and World Report just issued a state-by-state performance comparison of American public high schools. The ranking is based on which states have the largest proportions of high schools in the top 25% of the 2022 Best High Schools edition. Massachusetts comes in first, with almost half of its high schools (47%) in the top 25%. Maine and Nebraska are tied for last, with only 3.5% in the top 25%.

Among NJ’s 406 high schools, 8.6% ranked in the top 5% nationally, 20.9% ranked in the top 10% nationally, and a grand total of 39.7% ranked in the top 25% nationally.

Rankings are determined by percentage of students who earned “outstanding” scores in math, reading, and science state standardized tests; percentage of students who passed AP and IB exams, and high school graduation rates. You can find the metholodogy here.

Here are the top ten states with the percentage of high schools in the top 25%:

• Massachusetts: 47.9%
• Connecticut:     42.5%
• Florida:             41.6%
• California:         41.5%
• Maryland:         40.8%
• New Jersey:     39.7%
• New York:        32.8%
• Rhode Island:  32.7%
• Colorado:         31.2%
• Hawaii:             28.9%