Newsweek Announces Top STEM High Schools for 2019
[Briarwood, January 2020] – Newsweek has announced its ranking of the top 5,000 STEM high schools for 2019, honoring excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Archbishop Molloy High School placed in the top 8% of an original pool of over 30,000 high schools that were analyzed over a three-year period.
With its long history of reporting on scientific breakthroughs, technological revolutions, and societal challenges, Newsweek partnered with STEM.org to rank America’s Best STEM High Schools. The list includes schools in every region of the country that offer skilled teachers who keep up with developments in these fields and who create dynamic learning environments to engage their students.
The top 5,000 schools were curated from STEM.org Educational Research™ (SER) using a proprietary scoring logic that took into consideration a broad set of quantitative and qualitative data inputs collected from Q2 2015–Q3 2019. The purpose was to determine which primary/secondary institutions in America best offer students experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)—as defined by the Congressional Research Service—while preparing them for post‐secondary outcomes. Additional factors, including affluence and median household income, were taken into consideration in compiling the rankings.
“Children don’t realize it, but they’re natural STEM students,” says Nancy Cooper, Newsweek Global Editor in Chief. “We need to make sure that innate drive, curiosity, and creativity aren’t lost along the way. These high schools are helping to ensure America’s future in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is in good hands.”
In recent years, Molloy has made tremendous strides in designing a full STEM curriculum. In 2015, Molloy was among the first high schools in the country to adopt AP Computer Science Principles and has since added AP Java Programming and College Robotics. Molloy has been recognized by The College Board with the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving female student representation in AP Computer Science Principles. New extracurricular activities include Information Technology (IT) Club, STEM Club, and Girls Who Code Club. In spring 2018, Molloy partnered with Amazon to create a rigorous four-year computer science curriculum (Amazon Future Engineer Program). In fall 2019, Molloy was one of just 10 high schools nationwide (and the only private high school) to be included in a study of STEM education conducted by a renowned education/STEM researcher.
“Molloy’s STEM program is still in its relative infancy, but to already be nationally recognized in Newsweek’s prestigious ranking is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Principal Dr. Darius Penikas.
See Newsweek’s full list of top STEM high schools.
About Newsweek: Newsweek is a premier news magazine and website that has been bringing high‐quality journalism to readers around the globe for over 85 years. Newsweek provides the latest news, in‐depth analysis, and ideas about international issues, technology, business, culture, and politics.
About STEM.org: Educational Research™ STEM.org Educational Research™ is the longest continually operating, privately held STEM education research and credentialing organization in America, based in Southfield, Michigan.