U.S. News and World Report has again ranked Barrington High School near the top of its list of the best high schools in America.

Barrington High School ranked number 199 out of more than 17,000 schools included in the analysis. It is the second straight year that Barrington has ranked in the top-200 nationally.

Barrington High School Principal Joe Hurley said he was very happy to learn that the school had been selected for the special distinction.

"It reaffirms what we're doing here," he said.

The BHS principal said the high school's success is a reflection of the work being done at all grade levels in Barrington schools — from kindergarten through Grade 12.

"You can't do this type of work in a single school. You have to have that buy-in K through 12," Mr. Hurley said, adding that each academic grade in Barrington feeds into the next. "We're lucky we have that here."

Barrington needed to achieve a number of top designations in the analysis in order to earn the top-200 ranking. The local school scored well in "math and reading proficiency," "college curriculum breadth index," "college readiness index," and "math and reading performance."

Barrington High School also earned strong scores for participation on the Advanced Placement exams.

The U.S. News and World Report rankings were based entirely on information collected from third-party sources, not the schools themselves. For example, the analysis used data from statewide math and reading level assessment tests and high school graduation rates; The College Board; International Baccalaureate examination data for each public high school, when applicable; and The Common Core of Data from the U.S. Department of Education.

"In coordination with North Carolina-based RTI International, a global nonprofit social science research firm, U.S. News ranked approximately 17,790 public high schools out of more than 24,000 reviewed," stated the report. "This is the count of public high schools that had a 12th grade enrollment of 15 or greater, or otherwise had sufficient enrollment in other high school grades during the 2017-2018 school year to be analyzed."

Last year, Barrington High School was ranked number 189; in 2018, Barrington was listed at 316, and in 2017, the BHS was ranked at 417.

How other RI schools fared

Barrington ranked second among all Rhode Island schools included in the analysis. Classical High School was listed at number 132. (Eighth grade students from Providence must take an entrance exam in order to be considered for admission to Classical High School.)

Following are the top-10 Rhode Island high schools included in the US News and World Report list of best high schools in America:

1. Classical — national rank 132

2. Barrington — national rank 199

3. East Greenwich — national rank 686

4. Portsmouth — national rank 719

5. Blackstone Valley Prep — national rank 991

6. South Kingstown — national rank 1,521

7. North Kingstown — national rank 1,619

8. Westerly — national rank 2,454

9. Lincoln — national rank 2,621

10. Jacqueline M. Walsh School — national rank 2,722

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