By Juan Soto
This is a tough final examination, one that students don’t have to memorize to be ready for it but need to do lots of research to make the right choice.
Decision time is upon the borough’s eighth-graders who must choose which high school they would like to enroll in for the next four-years of their academic life.
According to the U.S. News and World Report survey, 11 of the state’s top 100 high schools are in “The World’s Borough.”
Two of the academic centers are in the exclusive top 10 list.
The borough’s top school, according to the report, is Townsend Harris High School in Flushing. It ranks fifth in the state in the U.S. News & World Report, only behind High School Studies at Lehman College (The Bronx); Bronx High School of Science; Brooklyn Latin School: and High School for Dual Languages and Asian Studies (Manhattan).
Townsend Harris High School has a perfect 100 percent graduation rate, and a 91.1 percent college readiness. It has 1,143 students and 54 teachers. Only about 5 percent of applicants make it in. All of its graduating students go to college.
Nationally, Townsend Harris High School is ranked 40, according to the report. The top high school is the School for the Talented and Gifted, located in Texas.
Also on the top 10 state list is Queens High School for the Science at York College, located within the CUNY campus in downtown Jamaica. The school has a 98 percent graduation rate, and 86.3 percent college readiness. It is ranked eighth in the state.
The curriculum at the school is based on math and science.
Queens High School for the Science at York College is ranked 57 nationally, with a 86.3 percent college readiness.
Long Island City’s Baccalaureate School for Global Education appears at No. 26 in the state, according to the survey. With about 440 students, the average graduation rate is 98 percent. College readiness percent is at 70.7.
Also in the borough, the High School for Arts and Business in Corona is among the state’s best 100 schools. It’s ranked 59 on the list.
This school has an enrollment of 845 students.
Scholar’s Academy, in the Rockaways, a school that dedicates itself to innovation and with about 1.000 students, is ranked 65 in the state.
Following at 66 statewide is the Academy of Finance and Enterprise, located in Long Island City and with technology and business at the core of the curriculum.
Queens is also home to another five top 100 high schools in the Empire State. They are Long Island City’s Academy of American Studies (69); Jamaica’s Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School (72); Bayside’s Benjamin Cardozo High School (75); Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows (76); and Forest Hills High School (85).
Reach reporter Juan Soto by e-mail at jsoto@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
