The U.S. News and World Report recently released its rankings for Best High Schools in the country, and once again, Barrington High School was near the top.

The report ranked BHS number 289 in the country and second in the state. Classical High School in Providence was the top-ranked Rhode Island high school, with a national ranking of 144.

Rounding out the top-five in Rhode Island was East Greenwich High School (third in RI, 551 nationally), Portsmouth High School (fourth in RI, 1,283 nationally), and North Kingstown High School (fifth in RI and 1,382 nationally).

The annual report of best high schools in the country ranks schools based on students’ performance on state-required assessments, the graduation rate, and how well they prepare students for college. 

For Barrington High School, the report’s “scorecard” was 98.38 with 63 percent of BHS students taking at least one Advanced Placement exam, 54 percent passing at least one AP exam, 77 percent of students achieving math proficiency, and 89 percent achieving reading proficiency, and a 95 percent graduation rate.

“I would like to congratulate the staff of Barrington High School and all of the staff members throughout Barrington Public Schools who have contributed in Barrington High School, once again, being recognized as one of the best high schools in the nation,” wrote Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore. 

“I would also like to give credit to our students for their hard work and commitment to learning and to our community for providing the necessary supports and resources our district needs in order to provide our students with a high quality education.”

The U.S. News and World Report rankings includes data from more than 24,000 public high schools across the country. 

Barrington’s ranking of 289 is a drop from the 2020 report, which had BHS ranked at 199. Last year’s report included information from about 17,000 schools. Barrington had been ranked in the top-200 for two years straight, prior to this year’s ranking.

In 2019, Barrington High School was ranked number 189; in 2018, Barrington was listed at 316, and in 2017, the BHS was ranked at 417.

STEM ranking

U.S. News and World Report also released its 2021 Best High Schools for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) rankings.

Barrington High School was ranked 192nd in the nation and was the only high school from Rhode Island to be ranked. 

“To determine a top science, technology, engineering and math school, a public high school first had to be very highly ranked in the 2021 U.S. News Best High Schools rankings,” wrote Mr. Messore. “That meant that the top 1,000 nationally ranked high schools were eligible for the STEM rankings.”

Those schools were then evaluated based on students’ participation and success in Advanced Placement science and math tests.  

How other RI schools fared

Barrington ranked second among all Rhode Island schools included in the recent report. Classical High School was listed at number 144. (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 144

2. Barrington — 289

3. East Greenwich — 551

4. Portsmouth — 1,283

5. North Kingstown — 1,382

6. Blackstone Valley Prep — 1,471

7. South Kingstown — 1,951

8. Exeter-West Greenwich — 2,020

9. Paul Cuffee Upper School — 2,294

10. Chariho — 2,578