After making a leap in the rankings in 2025, Columbia High School has dropped 19 spots in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of New Jersey high schools.
CHS ranks 72nd in the state for 2026, down from 53rd in 2025.
CHS ranked 65th in 2024; 45th in 2023; 59th in 2022; 48th in 2021; and 67th in 2019.
However, the information for the 2026-27 rankings is mostly based on 2023-2024 state assessment data. That data cited CHS’s graduation rate as 89%, which is below the state average.
South Orange-Maplewood Supt. of Schools Jason Bing and CHS Principal Frank Sanchez say that several initiatives are helping to yield better results and better numbers.
“We have worked hard to increase that [graduation] rate since our team came in-it is now 93.2%,” wrote Bing in response to an email request for comment. “While we still have work to do we are moving in the right direction. Some of our high impact initiatives include: Freshman Academy, a review of grading policy, increased mental health/wellness supports, new bell schedule, new Director of Guidance, personalized pathways for graduation, restorative practices, AP offerings increased, comprehensive academic support for students, intentionality around reducing achievement gaps, and a focus on instruction and learning.”
Sanches added, “We continue to make progress with our AP scores and with students participating in AP classes. As you can see from the chart below, we grew in total AP students by over 50% from 2022 to 2026 and the number of exams grew by well over 60% over the same time period. We opened and increased our AP classes by that much, and yet we did not see a fall in excellence. In fact, we saw an increase in students with a 3 or higher from 80% to 91%!”
Sanchez shared this graphic:
U.S. News & World Report did give CHS a better College Readiness rate — 62.9 — than many of the schools ranked about it. CHS is ranked #43 in NJ for College Readiness which is a measure of “The proportions of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one AP or IB exam. Earning a qualifying score is worth three times more than just taking.”
The school ranked #55 in NJ for College Curriculum Breadth Index (“The proportions of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on AP and IB exams in multiple areas. More exams are valued more than fewer exams up to a maximum of four. Earning a qualifying score on an exam is worth three times more than taking”); #125 for State Assessment Proficiency; #137 for State Assessment Performance; and tied for #328 for Graduation Rate.
CHS ranked nationally and #77 in the NY Metro area.
See the methodology here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings
See the NJ rankings here: https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/new-jersey/rankings
