Blind Brook and Rye on the List of America's Best High Schools

Rye High School and Blind Brook High School have been named some of America's Best High Schools, according to Newsweek magazine.

The list, published this week, ranks more than 1600 schools across the country. It is based on the total number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge (AICE) tests given at a school each year and divided by the number of seniors graduating that year.

Blind Brook ranked 340th, while Rye ranked 84th.

Other high schools in Westchester also ranked high on the list. Bronxville High School ranked 87th, Harrison ranked 99th, Edgemont High School in Scarsdale ranked 102nd and Yonkers ranked 132nd. Other area schools on the list included Horace Greeley in Chappaqua, which ranked 145th, Dobbs Ferry at 138th and Mamaroneck and Rye Neck high schools, which ranked 437th and 483rd, respectively.

The list does not include any magnet or charter high schools because those schools have a high concentration of students compared to schools with more normal enrollment, Newsweek said. The magazine also said it formulated the list based on the number of AP and IB tests given rather than the scores, because most high schools have typically allowed only top students to take these tests, thereby inflating their passing rate.

The list of top high schools is familiar territory for both Blind Brook and Rye high schools.  

Both also landed on U.S. News and World Report's 2010 list of America's 100 Best High Schools. Blind Brook High School ranked 55th, while Rye High School ranked 59th.

In that ranking, both schools were placed in the gold medal category, receiving high marks for the types of AP and IB classes they offered and how well they prepared students for college.