Consistently ranked as one of the top public high schools in New Jersey, New Providence High School has finally dethroned Millburn, now 8^th, for the top spot. In its 2012 biennial ranking of New Jersey Public Schools, New Jersey Monthly has recognized NPHS as the #1 High School in New Jersey, closely followed by McNair Academic and Tenafly High School and with rival neighbors Governor Livingston and Summit lagging behind at 36 and 15, respectively. In the past several years, New Providence has steadily climbed up in its rankings. Ranked just 26^th back in 2006, it reached 17^th in 2008 and 5^th in 2010.

According to NJ Monthly’s methodology for these rankings, schools were ordered depending on three crucial factors—school environment, student performance, and student outcome. School environment included average class size, student to teacher ratio, number of AP courses offered, and faculty members with advanced degrees (doctorates).  For student performance, HSPA, AP, and SAT scores were all considered. And for student outcome, NJ Monthly considered the graduation rate according to a new method mandated by federal law.

So how did we get here? According to NJ Monthly’s report, NPHS was selected as the top school for several reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason is how our school district dealt with severe budget cuts, especially during the 2010-2011 school year. Instead of laying off teachers,  which would increasing class sizes substantially, New Providence made adjustments elsewhere, and was able to make significant savings when the NPEA,  the teachers’ union, agreed to freeze their contract for a number of years.  Thus, even with these budget cuts, NPHS was able to decrease its class sizes, and its students’ standardized testing scores were even higher.

In addition to being recognized as the number 1 public high school in New Jersey, NPHS also won the 2011-2012 Shop Rite/NJSIAA Cup for Group I, for the second year in a row.  Schools qualify for this award by placing first, second, or third in State Championships, which a number of the NPHS sports teams did. Boys’ Tennis and Girls’ Soccer finished first, Football finished 3^rd, and New Providence finished  4^th in Boy’s Track and Field Relays. NPHS also received an additional nine points because we didn’t have any disqualifications in all three sports seasons.

Keep up the hard work Pioneers and good luck in the new school year!