District Says Education at East, West Same Despite Ranking

While Smithtown High School West and High School East were named in the top 100 high schools in the state according to the , they were separated by more than 20 spots. While the schools were separate, Superintendent Edward Ehmann said the level of education is the same at each.

West is ranked #54 in the state out of 1,165 high schools, while East is ranked #76. The difference in scores comes in the college readiness index – West has an index of 49.6, while east holds an index of 42.6.

Ehmann said the difference in scores comes from the formula the U.S. News & World Report used to calculate this particular criteria.

"[They] take the number of tests that the school has produced in AP and divides the total number of tests written by the number of seniors in the graduating class," he said. "At West you have fewer kids being tested and they did well, of those kids tested 60 percent got a 3 or better on an AP test. At East 56 percent of the kids tested got a 3 or better on the AP test ... When you have more kids tested then you're perhaps have fewer kids getting a 3 or greater, it doesn't mean the quality of instruction is any worse.

While there is a difference in ranking, Ehmann said he is pleased that both schools ranked in the top 100 in the state.

"I'm very pleased to see that Smithtown ranks very highly," he said. "At the end of the day I would think the most important criteria are the kids getting into colleges they applied to and once there are they succeeding. I think all of our schools have a pretty high track record in that regard."

West's national rank was #382, East's was #585.