Shelter Island High School ranks in the top 18 percent nationwide and 26 percent statewide, according to U.S. News & World Report.
“This is a great accomplishment for our school district,” Superintendent Brian J. Doelger said in a news release Thursday. “We have seen dramatic increases in our school performance, ranking, and growth over the past four years.”
“It is a testament to the amazing faculty and staff that we have here on Shelter Island.”
Shelter Island High School’s ranking
Dr. Doelger pointed out that the school was unranked in the “Best High Schools in the U.S.” report just four years ago. After that, it moved from the top 40th, 30th, and 20th national percentiles in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 reports.
“While we are very proud of this trend in our rankings over the last four years, we all believe in continuous improvement,” he said in an email. “We will work diligently to continue to provide our students with the best education possible.”
How rankings are determined
U.S. News & World Report and its research partner, RTI International, reviewed 2020/21 data to establish the 2023 list.
It ranked 17,680 schools nationwide (including 1,198 in New York) based on weighted scoring for six indicators: college readiness (max 30 points), state assessment proficiency (max 20 points), state assessment performance (max 20 points), college curriculum breadth, graduation rate, and underserved student performance (max 10 points each).
Due to the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, the study relied on some pre-pandemic data. For instance, in New York, 2019 Regents exam results were used to score for state assessment proficiency and performance.
Shelter Island High School’s overall score was 81.2 out of 100, just a few points behind the top finishers here on the East End. It ranked 3,323 nationwide and 312 in New York.
Smallest, by far
Shelter Island had 54 students in grades 9-12 during the study year, making it, by far, the smallest of the 57 Suffolk County public high schools ranked. The next smallest was Greenport HS, with 240 students.
(Bridgehampton HS, with 59 students in 2022/21, was the only Suffolk County public high school not ranked. Among the criteria for inclusion is a senior class of at least 15 students; Bridgehampton had too few that year.)
The county’s largest is Brentwood HS. With over 4,300 students, it’s one of the biggest public high schools in the state. The average enrollment for Suffolk County’s ranked schools was 1,263. Among the 10 serving East End towns, the average enrollment was 652.
According to the ranking data, Shelter Island High School’s score of 81.2 placed it seventh on the East End after Pierson HS in Sag Harbor (93.98), Westhampton Beach HS (92.79), Mattituck Jr/Sr HS (92.70), Southampton HS (89.02), East Hampton HS (88.18), and Hampton Bays HS (83.26).
Southold HS, Greenport HS, and Riverhead HS completed the East End rankings.
Other metrics
Dr. Doelger said the U.S. News & World Report ranking is just one of several metrics showing the district’s advancement.
While he couldn’t provide specifics until the state lifts its embargo on public reporting, Dr. Doelger said the district’s latest state assessment results show dramatic improvements in ELA and Math scores.
[Note: Other reporting may have indicated SIHS ranked in the top 23 percent in NYS; that figure apparently referred to 1,376 schools initially assessed for the study. Only 1,198 were ranked, meaning SIHS was in the top 26 percent, a terrific result, especially given its small population.]
