By: Bailey Blaikie ’19

Staples High School, the only public high school in Westport Connecticut, was named fifth in the state by The U.S. News & World Report on April 25, 2017.

Along with being ranked fifth in the state, Staples was also ranked 391st in the country and awarded a gold medal. There is a long process the U.S. News & World Report goes through to make decisions on the best schools in the country.

As noted on the U.S. News & World Report website, a four-step process determined the best high schools in the United States. Each school was compared to other schools by seeing if the students were performing better than statistically expected for the state. The top 10 percent of schools with the highest performance automatically passed, while the bottom 10 percent automatically failed.

If a school passes the previous step, the success of disadvantaged students in the school system is then examined. In order to pass, a school must perform better than the state averages. The third step requires a school to surpass a 75 percent graduation rate.

The final step involved Advanced Placement test scores. Schools with the highest AP scores were depicted as institutions who had the best college preparation system for students.

For some students, it is not a shock that Staples is ranked highly in the state. Isabel Handa ’19 said, “I think that the ranking makes sense in regards to academics as [Staples] provides a large variety of levels and classes.”

The academics at Staples are highly ranked, but the diversity throughout the student body is lacking. According to Niche, a website that ranks public high schools in America, Staples received an A+ for every category and a C for diversity. The categories include academics, teachers, clubs and activities, diversity, college readiness and health and safety.

The U.S. News & World Report does not factor diversity in, as they solely base their placement off of academics rather than student life in the high school. Jack Sharkey ’18 said, “I think the lack diversity should definitely be something accounted for in our placement on the list.”

While some believe that academics are not the only thing that should depict our placement, others believe that our academics allow us to receive a high ranking. Antonia Sousa ’19 said,  “Since our academics are exceptional, think it is fine that it’s the only thing factored into this decision.”