Newsweek Top-Rated School List Leaves Off Plymouth High Schools

Newsweek has ranked the high schools nationally, but the criteria used leaves both Plymouth North and South off of the list.

Neither school was ranked in the magazine's annual survey. Rising Tide Charter School was also not ranked; it started a high school section this past year.

Plymouth high school students do have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement course work and exams. The AP participation rate at Plymouth North High School is 26 percent. The participation rate at Plymouth South High School is 22 percent.

For its rankings, Newsweek sent out a survey to more than 5,000 high schools in the U.S., with about 2,500 schools responding in 2013. You can see the details about the ranking, and every other ranked high school by clicking on the markers in the interactive map above.

The survey scores were then weighted and calculated using several criteria including on-time graduation and college acceptance rates. In addition, instead of averaging the number of courses offered, this year Newsweek considered the percentage of students enrolled in AP, IB or Advance International Certificate courses. The final scores then determined Newsweek’s final rankings.

The highest-ranked school in Massachusetts, according to the Newsweek list, is Boston Latin School, coming in at #114 nationally. Next on the list is #140-ranked Dover-Sherborn High School. Newton North High School cracked the top 1,000 schools, listed at 982nd place.

You can read more about Newsweek's methodology here.