Niche best schools list: 3 Long Island districts make top 10 nationwide in new rankings
Three of the 10 best school districts nationwide are on Long Island, and the region dominated a list of the top 10 in New York State, according to the Niche 2027 Best School Districts rankings.
The Roslyn, Syosset and Jericho school districts are listed as the second, third and seventh best respectively in the United States as part of the annual rankings by Niche, a Pittsburgh-based company that offers reviews and ranks of districts, public and private schools, and colleges.
The Roslyn district topped a separate list of the best districts statewide. In an emailed statement to Newsday, Superintendent Allison Brown attributed the district's success to "a collective effort that includes our students, staff, and families."
"Our focus is always to keep our schools dynamic and innovative — motivating everyone in our school community to do better with each effort to achieve great success," Brown said.
All three Nassau districts in the national top 10 earned Niche’s top mark — an A+ — for myriad factors, including state test scores, student-to- teacher ratios and how well they prepare students for college.
Roslyn and the Syosset school district flipped slots from the 2026 national rankings. The Jericho school district rose from 10th on the previous list.
Jericho superintendent Robert Kravitz told Newsday he was "incredibly proud" of the district rise in the rankings. He attributed it to "the collective commitment of our students, faculty, staff, administration, Board of Education, and families."
In a text message from a district spokesperson, Kravitz continued: "While we are proud of this recognition, our work is never finished. We will continue to learn, grow, innovate, and challenge ourselves as we pursue our goal of making Jericho the very best school district it can be."
Syosset superintendent Thomas Rogers, in an emailed statement to Newsday, called his district's ranking "very nice recognition of all of the hard work put in by our students and staff."
"We don’t chase rankings, but we are always happy to accept such a kind compliment," Rogers said. "In Syosset, we have always believed that if we chase good instruction, things like rankings will take care of themselves."
Niche relies on information from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census and other publicly available data to rank entire districts and individual public and private schools. A district's academic rating — which amounts to half of its overall Niche grade — factors in state exams, college enrollment data and survey responses from parents and students.
A separate teacher rating incorporates instructor salaries, absenteeism and responses from parents and pupils. Niche also grades schools on administrators, clubs and activities, diversity and sports programs.
Niche's top 50 public high schools in the U.S. include Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills at 32, Syosset Senior High School at 33 and Jericho Senior High School at 50.
Gravitas, the online arm The Stony Brook School, a Christian college-preparatory boarding school, was named the country's fifth best online private school and the 50th best nationwide.
Other Long Island districts that appear on Niche's top 10 across the state include the Manhasset school district at fifth, the Hewlett-Woodmere school district at sixth, Herricks at seven, Bethpage at eight and the East Williston district in 10th place.
