U.S. News & World Report recently issued the 2025 rankings for best public high schools. Algonquin Regional had its best year yet, shooting up to #14 for the state. And a neighbor that has previously topped rankings took a little tumble.
Here’s my look at how Algonquin, Assabet, and neighboring high schools compared in this year’s rankings (and looking back over time).
Algonquin’s elevated ranking puts it in the top 4% of public high schools in the state. The magazine also ranked ARHS #1 for the Worcester Metro area. It received a stellar “scorecard” of 98.1.
But I always warn to take these rankings with more than a grain of salt. Ranking methodologies are confusing and vary greatly by organization, and can change year-to-year. And the data used generally means a lag between schools’ performance and rankings. This year’s rankings are mainly based on information from the 2022-2023 school year.
Over the past two years, changes methodology for some other states may have impacted Massachusetts’ prior advantage in national rankings. Compared to 2023, Algonquin’s ranking for “STEM High Schools” in Massachusetts rose from #17 to #8 in for our state. It simultaneously dropped from #111 to #304 in national rankings.
When the blog first covered the magazine’s rankings, ARHS had gone from #25 for the state in 2012 to #23 in 2014. Later, rankings began to decline, with a low of #60 in 2020, then began improving, up to #30 last year. This year’s jump to #14 comes at the same time that AMSA (Advanced Math and Science Academy), the charter school in Marlborough, dropped from #4 to #15. (I’m not clear on why there were such drastic changes.)
Of directly public schools in directly neighboring towns, only Hopkinton High still outranks our district. Below is a chart tracking those rankings since 2017 (click to enlarge):1
It’s worth noting that the magazines’ (and most rankings’) methodologies are clearly geared for determining which schools are best for students to get into a selective college. That means vocational schools (which US News doesn’t give a special category for) rank poorly in comparison. (Yes, many students go on to college from a vocational school. But a higher percent of students that aren’t interested in academics and don’t take AP tests and will naturally attend a school that helps them directly prepare for the workforce.)
You can read about US News’ methodology here. And you can see Algonquin’s details (and links to other rankings) here.
- When I couldn’t find data, I inserted “?”. Since I didn’t cover the rankings last year, I was unable to find 2024 data for Framingham High or verify the rank that Google AI reported for Keefe Tech for that year. The dashes for ARHS and AVRTHS in 2018 reflect that the magazine chose not to rank those schools that year.
