Schools

U.S. News and World Report Gives High Ranks to Two Scotch Plains Schools

Both schools had high college preparatory scores.

The Union County Magnet High School and the Academy for Information Technology in Scotch Plains have been ranked among the best high schools in the nation.

Both schools were given silver medals by U.S. World and News Report's annual ranking of high schools, which means they have been highly successful in preparing students for college.

The schools are part of the county's Vocational-Technical School District. The Academy for Information Technology is a four-year college preparatory program  that includes honors-level academics along with course work in all aspects of information technology, such as networking, software development, and interactive media. The Union County Magnet School provides students with the opportunity to pursue challenging academics at both the secondary and collegiate levels through special articulation agreements with local colleges and universities.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to U.S. News and World Report's Web site, a three-part process determines the best schools. The first step involved analyzing math and reading test scores, and then factoring in the school's percentage of economically disadvantaged students. Next, the survey examined if those economically disadvantaged students were doing better than similar students in the state.

Schools that made it through those two steps were then measured based on their college readiness performance, which uses Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate test data to determine success.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to the magazine, a silver medal is awarded to those schools with a college readiness index of at least 20, but that are not ranked in the top 100 nationally.

The Academy for Information Technology's college readiness ranking is 50.5. The magnet school's is 50.4.

To view the report for the Academy for Information Technology, go here.

To view the report for Union County Magnet School, go here.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here