This Is The Best Public High School In Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh PA

08 October, 2021

11:09 AM

Description

By Grant Suneson, 24/7 Wall St Pittsburgh 2021-10-07 The quality of American public schools can vary widely between states, cities, and even districts. Not all schools are able to provide students with the same level of education, access to extracurriculars, counseling, or college preparation. While each public school faces its own unique challenges, each state has one public school that stands out as the very best. The best public high schools tend to be in relatively affluent areas, where incomes are well above the U.S. median household income of $62,843. A wealthier tax base for a school district means that schools have more funding to hire teachers and other faculty and provide more extracurriculars. In many of the best public high schools in a given state, the vast majority of students graduate and perform well in educational assessments. Nationwide, only 24% of students are proficient in math and 37% are proficient in reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Students at top high schools also tend to perform well in college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT, with reported scores well above the 1058 out of 1600 nationwide average for the SAT and the 20.6 out of 36 average for the ACT. Julia R. Masterman Secondary School in Philadelphia ranks as the top public high school in Pennsylvania. The school earned an overall A+ grade, as well as A+ scores for its academics, teachers, health and safety, and college prep, from school data platform Niche. Based on "diversity, graduation rates and state test scores for economically disadvantaged and minority students," per Niche, the school ranks No. 1 in Niche's list of Standout High Schools in America that are making a difference in their community. Masterman boasts an average graduation rate of 95%, and 99% of students are proficient in reading, while 97% are proficient in math. To determine the best public high schools in every state, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2022 K-12 School & District Rankings from Niche, a platform for education data. The Niche ranking is based on academic and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as student reviews submitted to Niche. Data on student count and student-teacher ratio came from Niche.     Can't see the article's infographic? Click here to view the original story.This story was originally published by 24/7 Wall St., a news organization that produces real-time business commentary and data-driven reporting for state and local markets across the country.