Chatham High Slips in Top School Rankings

Chatham High School is now ranked No. 13 in the state, according to US News & World Report rankings released Tuesday. The national ranking is No. 192.

Many of Chatham's scores in the U.S. News' rankings are unchanged or improved from 2012, when Chatham High was ranked No. 7 in the state.

U.S. News & World Report's rankings are based on student-to-teacher ratios, college readiness and High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) scores. Math scores were at 3.5 in 2012 and 2013, Language Arts scores were at 3.4 in 2012 and at 3.5 in 2013.

Chatham High received a 61.3 college readiness index out of a possible 100 this year and 61.9 in 2012. Two schools in New Jersey and 15 schools in the nation received a score of 100. The publication states that a score of 100 "means that every 12th-grade student during the 2009-10 academic year in a particular school took and passed at least one AP or IB test before or during their senior year."

Of the twelve schools ranked higher than Chatham High on the list, only two of them, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South and Ridgewood High School, are traditional non-magnet public schools. In 2012 Chatham High was the top-ranked public high school.

Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa said he "(does) not believe that rankings like these capture what it is that makes a school effective or great."

"I think it is important to note that Chatham High School was ranked No. 1 last year and No. 3 this year among regular, comprehensive public high schools," LaSusa said. "The other schools, including McNair and Elizabeth, are academies or magnet schools with highly competitive admissions procedures designed to select only the strongest students."

The "more important focus," LaSusa said, should be "on the quality of experience students receive in our schools and the outcomes they ultimately display by the time they graduate."

According to U.S. News, there are 295 districts with 395 high schools in New Jersey, employing 29,424 full-time teachers educating 411,562 students.

Below are Chatham High's rankings from U.S. News & World Report's 2012 and 2013 reports.

Math (average proficiency)

English (average proficiency)

93% Proficient

7% Not Proficient

98% Proficient

2% Not Proficient

16:1 (larger than state average)

1,109 Students

71 Teachers

61.3 (above state average)

64% Tested (AP®)

60% Passed (AP®)

3.5 (above state average)

92% Proficient

8% Not Proficient

3.5 (above state average)

98% Proficient

2% Not Proficient