US News and World Report ranked Ridge High School among the top 14 comprehensive public high schools in New Jersey last Wednesday.

Ridge received silver medal recognition as one of the top 561 schools in the United States. Five schools in New Jersey received gold medal recognition, and 18 schools received silver out of the 299 New Jersey schools that were fully analyzed in the report.

Of those receiving awards, Princeton High School was the only public school to receive a gold medal, and 13 other public schools (Ridge included) received the silver honor.

The rankings, part of the 2010 America's Best High Schools report, give schools ratings based on performance above state averages and their performance on college preparatory exams. Schools were given a "college readiness index" score, based on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate test data.

Ridge had the third highest college readiness score of all public high schools in New Jersey. On the report's "State Test Performance Index," a "measure of mastery of state tests," Ridge holds the fifth highest score for New Jersey public high schools.

This was the first year that US News and World Report used a gold, silver and bronze approach to ranking the nation's top high schools. Previously, the organization had released a list ranking America's top 1,000 schools. Ridge High School's ranking vacillated between 98 and 114 on the previous lists, according the school's Director of Curriculum and Instruction Sean Siet.

"When I [looked] at this data, I tried to figure out where we would be if they had the top 1,000 schools," Siet said. "We missed the top 100 by not much, I can't tell you where… but I looked at just the New Jersey schools and besides Princeton, it looked like we were at the top of the public high schools."

Siet explained that the school likes to compare itself against other comprehensive public schools rather than including select-admission schools on the list. "It's not a fair comparison," Siet said. Schools that select incoming students based on merit have a natural advantage over open admission schools in nation and statewide rankings.

On the school's high college readiness mark, Siet explained, "We have a tremendous amount of students attending top 65 schools. In order to get into those schools, the expectation is, most students are taking at least one AP class, or have taken one AP class by the time they get to their senior year." Many students go on to take three, four or five AP classes over the high school careers, according to Siet.

While the rankings are appreciated, Siet said, "We don't put much into them," noting that the school conducts its own internal rankings and quality control mechanisms. "This is more for the public than anything else."