Find the best education in Westchester County in our schools directory.
Did you know that year after year, Westchesterites are rated as being among the most educated people in the United States. In fact, many residents relocate to the county specifically for the many nationally ranked public and private primary and secondary schools that call Westchester home. By perusing the pages that chronical the county’s academic landscape — from pre-Ks and nursery schools to colleges and universities — you’ll learn quickly that living in Westchester is one really smart move.
Our Pre-K/ Nursery Schools: By The Numbers
Our Colleges: By The Numbers
Private High Schools: By the Numbers
Public High Schools: The Official Ranking
Methodology: Data was collected on the high schools from the towns listed in the table provided (see Sources in the key). In instances where data values were not available or not applicable, we used the weighted average of that school’s scores from the categories that did have data. Thus, it would neither help nor hurt the school’s ranking. This only occurred with a small number of values. In the case of unavailable SAT data for a specific school, the districtwide mean SAT scores were used. This occurred for only two public school districts.
Once the data was collected and cleansed, we compared each high school’s data points to the overall average for all the schools. We then applied a percentage weight to the standardized value for each school to create an aggregate “score” for each school. Then, the high schools were ranked based on that statistical score.
Notes for selected categories.
- Average Class Size: We used the most recent data available from the NYSED website for core-4 reported class-size data points. These include ELA, Algebra I, Earth Science (or Biology I), and US History (or World History). We considered it more desirable to have a smaller class size than a larger one.
- Student-to-Teacher Ratio: We considered it more desirable to have a lower ratio than a higher one.
- No. of Counselors/Social Workers: This was based on the total number of counselors and social workers relative to the total 9-12 enrollment. We considered it more desirable to have a lower ratio than a higher one. This data was taken from the NYSED website in most cases.
- No. of AP/IB Courses: This was based on the total number of AP/IB courses listed in our table in relation to the total 9-12 enrollment. We considered it more desirable to have a lower ratio than a higher one.
- AP/IB Participation Rate: We considered it desirable to have a higher participation rate than a lower one.
About Our Rankings Expert: George Recck is director of the Math Resource Center and a member of the Math, Analytics, Science & Technology division at Babson College. He has extensive experience in information technology and statistical education and is the founder of Total Information Inc., a consulting firm that provides a range of information services to small businesses. He is a past chair of the Business Analytics/Statistics Education special-interest group of the American Statistical Association whose services have been retained by magazines such as Boston and Philadelphia.
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