Today is Teacher Appreciation Day and we thought it would be nice to do something on the school system. We decided to take a look at Philadelphiaand its public high schools. More precisely, we wanted to check out the best and to let our readers know which of the public high schools in the City of Brotherly Love rank the highest.
In 2015, Wallethub did a list of the best school systems in the country and the state of Pennsylvania came in only twenty-ninth which was definitely not great (https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335/). This year, U.S. News did their investigation into states’ high schools (http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-states-compare) and they put Pennsylvania at the 23rd spot.
As the biggest city in the state, Philadelphia is home to some of the best public high schools and Niche website has reviewed all of them, ranking them according to how well they did in a number of categories.
For example, they awarded the high schools an Academic Grade which looked at statistics, as well as surveys concerning the academics. This grade made up for 50 percent of the final grade. The Health and Safety Grade, the Parent/Student Surveys on Overall Experience, the Student Culture and Diversity Grade and the Teachers Grade all made up for 10 percent of the final grade each. Resources and Facilities Grade was worth 5 percent of the final grade while Extracurriculars and Activities and Sports and Fitness Grades were worth 2.5 percent each.
So, which Philly public high schools are the best?
The best public high school in the Philadelphia metro area is the Charter School of Wilmington, located in one of Philly’s satellite cities, Wilmington. It is one of the first public/private charter schools in the United States and it has traditionally ranked among the best high schools in the country and not just Philadelphia.
The Charter School of Wilmington earned an A+ in Niche’s Academics Grade, as well as in Teachers and Extracurriculars and Activities Grades. The students and parents gave the school a grade of 4.2 out of 5 for overall experience. Its worst grade came in the Resources and Facilities category where it earned “only” a B.
The second best public high school in Philadelphia is Conestoga Senior High School, located in Tredyffrin Township, one of the Main Line suburbs. The reason why we are digging this deep is that Niche actually named the Tredyffrin Easttown school district the best in the country. The Conestoga Senior High School has also been often ranked as one of the finest high schools in the state and the country.
For instance, the average SAT score in the school was 607 in mathematics, 590 in writing and 589 in reading for the Class of 2014. The school also received fantastic grades from Niche, as well as the overall experience grade of 4.5 out of 5.
In spot number 3, we find Radnor Senior High School. The Pennsylvania Department of Education ranked the school number 1 in academic performance in 2014 and the school and U.S. News & World Report ranked it the 5th best public high school in the state.
The school has earned A+ grades in a majority of the categories, as well as 4.3 out of 5 on parent/student surveys on overall experience.
Lower Merion High School is the fourth best public high school in Philadelphia according to Niche. The Wall Street Journal included it on their list of Top 60 public or private high schools in 2005. The school had its first commencement ceremony in 1897 when nine students participated. It now has almost 1,400 students.
The school that also made it to Top 5 public high schools in Philadelphia is the Unionville High School in the borough of Kennet Square. More than 90 percent of school’s alumni go on to pursue higher education while its student to teacher ratio of 12-to-1 ranks among the best in the state.
Other five schools in the Top 10 include Julia R. Masterman Secondary School, Harriton Senior High School, Wissahickon Senior High School,Central High School and New Hope-Solebury High School.
You can find out more about Philly’s best public high schools here – https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/m/philadelphia-metro-area/
