Townsend makes top 100 list

Townsend Harris High School has been ranked number 45 out of 100 on a list of the country’s best high schools that was recently published by U.S. News & World Report and was the only Queens school to be included in the top 100.
“It’s tremendous. We’re certainly pleased and gratified and we believe we deserve to be included on the list,” said Principal Thomas Cunningham. He continued, “Elation is a word that really doesn’t fit the bill. There is joy in the hallways.”
In order to compile the list, which marks the first time U.S. News & World Report has done so, information from the 2005/2006 school year from 18,790 public high schools was examined. Ratings were based on state testing performance, the level of achievement by disadvantaged students, and the school’s success rate at “providing college-level coursework.” Adjustments were also made based on “student circumstances.”
Gold medals, based on college readiness indexes, were given to the top 100 schools. Townsend Harris High School was given a 72.2 college readiness index.
Townsend Harris, which is located in Flushing and has more than 1,000 students, is a humanities school. Cunningham said that the students and their work ethic are part of the reason the school received its ranking. He also said that it “demonstrates the passion, dedication and commitment of our faculty and administrators that they bring to teaching daily.”