The 40 Top-Rated Public High Schools in Philadelphia and the Suburbs
Many factors should go into choosing a school for your child. Here are the top performers in the city and suburbs when it comes to graduation rates, student performance, and other statistical measures.
Masterman, one of the top-rated public high schools in Philadelphia / Photograph by Michael Stokes/Flickr
In the pandemic era, ranking high schools presents several challenges, with limited availability of data being the biggest one. For example, Pennsylvania stopped releasing schools’ average SAT scores — a significant aspect of our rankings in prior years — while New Jersey canceled statewide tests for both the 2019-’20 and 2020-’21 school years, forcing us to exclude Jersey schools from our analysis altogether. Acknowledging those limits, we nonetheless tried to maintain an unbiased approach in order to highlight schools in our area that are delivering a high level of education during tough times.
City Schools
Listed alphabetically
Academy at Palumbo
Bella Vista
Student enrollment: 1,118
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 76%
Student-teacher ratio: 23:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 69%/45%
Arts Academy at Benjamin Rush
Northeast Philly
Student enrollment: 635
Graduation percentage: 99%
College percentage: 77%
Student-teacher ratio: 22:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 58%/66%
Carver (Engineering & Science)
North Philly
Student enrollment: 781
Graduation percentage: 93%
College percentage: 74%
Student-teacher ratio: 26:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 89%/87%
Central
North Philly
Student enrollment: 2,381
Graduation percentage: 99%
College percentage: 83%
Student-teacher ratio: 24:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 98%/98%
Franklin Towne (charter)
Northeast Philly
Student enrollment: 1,261
Graduation percentage: 99%
College percentage: 72%
Student-teacher ratio: 18:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 82%/NA
Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP)
South Philly
Student enrollment: 255
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 79%
Student-teacher ratio: 21:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 69%/80%
MaST Community (charter)
Northeast Philly
Student enrollment: 499
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 84%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 79%/NA
Masterman
Spring Garden
Student enrollment: 461
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 92%
Student-teacher ratio: 23:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 100%/100%
Mastery Shoemaker Campus (charter)
West Philly
Student enrollment: 505
Graduation percentage: 94%
College percentage: 72%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 57%/67%
Multicultural Academy (charter)
North Philly
Student enrollment: 261
Graduation percentage: 94%
College percentage: 80%
Student-teacher ratio: 17:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 32%/NA
New Foundations (charter)
Northeast Philly
Student enrollment: 765
Graduation percentage: 93%
College percentage: 65%
Student-teacher ratio: 17:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 49%/59%
Parkway Center City
Center City
Student enrollment: 447
Graduation percentage: 100%
College percentage: 71%
Student-teacher ratio: 24:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 71%/NA
Philadelphia Academy (charter)
Northeast Philly
Student enrollment: 464
Graduation percentage: 92%
College percentage: 62%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 70%/65%
Philadelphia Performing Arts (charter)
Center City
Student enrollment: 617
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 87%
Student-teacher ratio: 16:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 43%/54%
Science Leadership Academy
Spring Garden
Student enrollment: 498
Graduation percentage: 100%
College percentage: 79%
Student-teacher ratio: 28:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 64%/NA
Suburban Schools
Listed alphabetically
Central Bucks East, one of the best public schools in the area / Photograph by Jonathan Goldberg/KCBA Architects
Central Bucks East
Bucks
Student enrollment: 1,385
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 91%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 94%/NA
Central Bucks West
Bucks
Student enrollment: 1,507
Graduation percentage: 96%
College percentage: 85%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 95%/NA
Conestoga
Chester
Student enrollment: 2,335
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 98%
Student-teacher ratio: 16:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 92%/90%
Council Rock North
Bucks
Student enrollment: 1,622
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 89%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 93%/93%
Council Rock South
Bucks
Student enrollment: 1,995
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 87%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 89%/95%
Downingtown East
Chester
Student enrollment: 1,702
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 83%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 81%/81%
Downingtown STEM Academy
Chester
Student enrollment: 883
Graduation percentage: 100%
College percentage: 99%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 100%/NA
Garnet Valley
Delaware
Student enrollment: 1,546
Graduation percentage: 96%
College percentage: 89%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 85%/91%
Great Valley
Chester
Student enrollment: 1,403
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 92%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 89%/91%
Harriton
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,287
Graduation percentage: 99%
College percentage: 91%
Student-teacher ratio: 11:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 85%/92%
Lower Merion
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,628
Graduation percentage: 96%
College percentage: 90%
Student-teacher ratio: 12:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 87%/94%
Lower Moreland
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 826
Graduation percentage: 96%
College percentage: 88%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 83%/NA
Marple Newtown
Delaware
Student enrollment: 1,157
Graduation percentage: 96%
College percentage: 79%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 73%/93%
Methacton
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,584
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 87%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 82%/92%
New Hope-Solebury
Bucks
Student enrollment: 468
Graduation percentage: 95%
College percentage: 93%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 87%/91%
Penncrest
Delaware
Student enrollment: 1,218
Graduation percentage: 94%
College percentage: 88%
Student-teacher ratio: 12:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 67%/98%
Perkiomen Valley
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,768
Graduation percentage: 94%
College percentage: 81%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 80%/87%
Radnor
Delaware
Student enrollment: 1,165
Graduation percentage: 98%
College percentage: 87%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 90%/93%
Renaissance Academy (charter)
Chester
Student enrollment: 331
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 82%
Student-teacher ratio: 12:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 96%/90%
Spring-Ford
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 2,561
Graduation percentage: 95%
College percentage: 85%
Student-teacher ratio: 15:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 95%/98%
Unionville
Chester
Student enrollment: 1,351
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 88%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 94%/94%
Upper Dublin
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,320
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 92%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 73%/91%
Upper Merion
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,293
Graduation percentage: 94%
College percentage: 77%
Student-teacher ratio: 14:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 75%/93%
Wissahickon
Montgomery
Student enrollment: 1,467
Graduation percentage: 97%
College percentage: 86%
Student-teacher ratio: 13:1
Met or exceeded expectations for math/science: 83%/79%
*The schools here performed best in our separate rankings of Philadelphia district and charter schools (81 total) and schools in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties (76 total). For our calculations, we used the latest available data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics, supplemented with data from the School District of Philadelphia; numbers have been rounded to the nearest whole. Our ranking includes an additional category for classroom teacher education level; for a full explanation of our methodology, see phillymag.com/schools2022.
Published as “High Schools Weathering the Storm” in the September 2022 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
