22 Long Island High Schools Rank Among New York’s Top 100, but Missing AP Data Scrambles the List

NEW YORK, NY – Long Island placed 22 public high schools among New York State’s top 100 in the newly released 2026–2027 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings, including seven schools within the state’s top 20.

South Side High School in Rockville Centre led the region at No. 8 in New York. North Shore Senior High School in Glen Head ranked No. 11, followed by Commack High School at No. 12, Pierson Middle/High School in Sag Harbor at No. 13, Locust Valley High School at No. 14 and Hauppauge High School at No. 15.

The results give Long Island a substantial presence near the top of the statewide list, although an unusual gap in the data used by U.S. News complicates comparisons with previous years.

Long Island Schools in New York’s Top 100

Thirteen of the 22 schools are in Nassau County and nine are in Suffolk County. The rankings shown below are each school’s position among public high schools across New York State.

Why New York Withheld the AP Data

The new list comes with an important qualification. The New York State Education Department declined to authorize the College Board to provide U.S. News with aggregate, school-level data showing Advanced Placement participation and exam performance.

The state said it already makes AP participation and related information available through its own website but has concerns about allowing a for-profit company to benefit from private student data. The requested figures, however, were aggregate school-level results rather than individually identified student records.

The disagreement left U.S. News without information used in two categories representing 40% of its ranking formula. College readiness, based largely on AP and IB participation and performance, accounts for 30%, while the breadth of college-level coursework represents another 10%.

As a result, New York schools with extensive AP programs may not have received full credit for one of their principal academic strengths. U.S. News acknowledged that the missing information affected the state rankings. Colorado, Maine and Vermont also declined to make AP data available for the report.

Several Prominent Schools Fell Sharply

The altered data produced steep year-to-year declines for several Long Island schools that have traditionally occupied much higher positions.

The declines should not be interpreted as evidence that academic performance at those schools suddenly collapsed. Jericho, for example, recorded proficiency rates of 96% in mathematics, 99% in reading and 97% in science, according to data cited in the report. Those results were well above the corresponding statewide averages.

The underlying information also comes from the 2023–2024 school year, meaning the rankings do not represent a real-time assessment of current students, programs or administrators.

How U.S. News Ranks High Schools

U.S. News evaluated approximately 27,000 eligible public high schools and assigned rankings to nearly 18,000. Its methodology uses six measures:

• College readiness based on AP and IB participation and exam performance: 30%
• Proficiency on state assessments in mathematics, reading and science: 20%
• Assessment performance relative to expectations for underserved students: 20%
• Performance of underserved students compared with other students statewide: 10%
• Breadth of college-level coursework: 10%
• Four-year graduation rate: 10%

Every school in the national top 20 uses selective enrollment or admission by lottery, according to U.S. News. Central Magnet School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, received the nation’s No. 1 ranking.

Long Island Increased Its Top-50 Representation

Despite the AP data problem, 13 Long Island schools finished among New York’s top 50, up from 11 in the previous ranking. The region also accounted for seven of the 11 positions between No. 8 and No. 18.

The statewide results therefore tell two stories at once. Long Island continues to have one of New York’s largest concentrations of highly ranked public high schools, while the abrupt movement of several familiar names demonstrates how strongly a rankings list can be influenced by missing data rather than a meaningful change inside the schools themselves.

Key Facts and Details

For families comparing Long Island schools, the rankings remain a useful collection of academic indicators, but this year’s list requires additional caution. The region’s 22 top-100 placements are notable, while the missing AP information makes individual movements, especially the dramatic declines recorded by Jericho, Great Neck South and Manhasset, less conclusive than the numbered positions might appear.