Photo Courtesy of U.S. News Ranking

Charlotte Tilley ‘26

REPORTER

Every year, the US News & World Report publishes a list of ratings of public high schools across the country. This year, Unionville High School was placed 307 out of 17,680 in the country and sixth out of 665 in the state.

This ranking is determined by how many students take an Advanced Placement (AP) class, pass an AP exam, are “proficient” in reading, science, and mathematics as measured by a State Assessment performance (Keystone assessments), the college readiness of students, and on the graduation rate of the school. 

Principal Dr. Amy Jenkins described the achievement as both “exciting and humbling. It’s … humbling to think of what great of a place [Unionville] has here.” Our school is considered a safe place for students to learn. According to Jenkins, the school’s ranking was due to “an improved climate and culture,” transforming the school “into a great place to be where kids want to come and learn”.

Jenkins said that “trying new initiatives, such as last year’s [Relax, Recharge, Reset (RRR)] day led to greater improvements in the school. However, these initiatives were not possible without the support of the community.” In the future, she hopes to look for new ways to improve, and wants to gain more support from the community to get there. In addition, Jenkins stated that the academic improvement in students was due to “[the school’s] teachers and their professional development, [for] the way they interact with students increases [the] motivation to learn, and that motivation helps academics evolve into what they can be.”

Jenkins also ascribed various non-academic aspects to the school’s success. According to Jenkins, The school’s ranking was boosted by focusing on “being well rounded”. Said Jenkins, “We have high academics here, but we also have a great athletics program, and a great arts program, and a great theater program, and a great musical program. So when tak[ing] all of these [programs] … together, [the school] improve[s] as a community because [it] can meet the needs of students. I would venture to say that not many high schools have over a hundred clubs to meet the needs of every kid.” 

Nevertheless, despite the accomplishment the school obtained, there is a desire to increase the school’s ranking even higher.  Despite Jenkins being “thrilled … that [the school is] 307 in the nation,” she has expressed her goal to, “to improve, and [find] that little niche that’ll get [the school] to 306 and 305 [on the rankings list].” 

Jenkins stressed the importance of remaining committed to putting students’ safety and wellbeing first. Jenkins emphasized that “[the school] needs to keep doing what [it’s] doing, and …  keep going with [improving] school climate and culture and continue to keep the school a positive place where kids feel safe and want to come.” Jenkins noted that the school’s ranking will continue to improve as long as the school continues to work on creating a positive student experience. Said Jenkins, “[the school] want[s] kids to think [that the school’s] building is nice, and [the school] want[s] to keep doing little things like creating student lounges that keep students wanting to be here, and all of that will help [the] scores.” 

Overall, our school and staff performed terrifically, but is always striving to do better.