The Londonderry School District earned top honors in the Niche Organization’s 2015 report detailing the best public high schools in New Hampshire.
The Londonderry School District ranked sixth of 64 school districts in the State, and ranked in the top four percent nationally.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Superintendent Nate Greenberg said. “They look at administration, teachers, college readiness, co- and extracurricular activities. This Niche group tries to take a comprehensive, overall look at a District, not just test scores. I think it’s really nice that based on this, that particular agency looks at us as being in the top four percent of school districts nationally. It validates the outstanding work of our faculty, staff, administration and support staff; as well as the support of the School Board and community. This is a team effort.”
Also ranking high in the comprehensive survey was Londonderry High School, which Niche ranked seventh of the 84 public high schools in New Hampshire.
“We’re certainly proud of it. We see it every day in our schools, our fantastic student body and our smart and successful staff and administrative team. We have great community support – all those things combined, I think, are factored into why we would fall into the top ten,” Principal Jason Parent said.
The high school’s ranking was an improvement over their performance in last year’s survey – the high school rounded out the 2014 list of the State’s Best Public High Schools, ranking tenth of New Hampshire’s 84 public schools.
Parent noted Londonderry High School was the top ranked Division-I school (over 1,000 students) on Niche’s list, and was ranked eighth of the 84 public schools for safety, earning an ‘A’ for health and safety.
“For such a big school, I’m proud we ranked in the top ten for safety,” Parent said.
Londonderry earned an overall grade of ‘A.’
In individual areas Niche considered when ranking the schools, Londonderry earned the following grades:
• Academics B+
• Administration and Policies A+
• Educational Outcomes B+
• Extracurriculars A
• Food B+
• Health and Safety A
• Resources and Facilities A
• Sports and Fitness A
• Student Culture and Diversity C+
• Teachers A
The top three ranked schools were Hanover High School, Bedford High School and Souhegan Cooperative High School.
The Niche Organization’s rankings are based primarily on academic performance, which accounts for 50 percent of the school’s ranking.
Other factors include health and safety, student culture and diversity, teachers, resources and facilities, extracurricular activities and activities and sports and fitness, all weighted at 10 percent.
Niche also considers survey responses from parents and students, most of which were positive for Londonderry High School and the School District.
The High School ranked seventh for educational outcomes, with an average score of 1780 on the SAT and 29 on the ACT; as well as a 95 percent graduation rate, compared with the national average of 82 percent.
Other New Hampshire schools ranked in Niche’s report also performed at a high level nationally.
“I think it says something very positive about New Hampshire public education and the quality of education in the State,” Greenberg said. “It speaks positively for the opportunities children in New Hampshire have as far as education is concerned; and graduating high school with the skills, ability and attitude they need to be successful.”