Top 100 Best High Schools 2013 – Millburn High School – Newsweek – 69/100

City: Millburn
State:NJ
School Classification: O
Grad Rate(%):99
AP/IB Tests:0.8
College Bound(%):99
AVG SAT: 1873

AVG AP SCORE:4.4
NEWSWEEK SCORE: 3.64

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Millburn High School is a four-year public high school in Millburn, in Essex County, New Jersey, operating as part of the Millburn Township Public Schools. The school enrolls students from the town of Millburn, including its neighborhood of Short Hills. It was honored as a Blue Ribbon School in the 2007-08 school year and was named the best high school in the state in the September 2008 and 2010 issues of New Jersey Monthly.

As of the 2010-11 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,492 students and 106.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.97:1. There were 10 students (0.7% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 2 (0.1% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.[1]

Awards, recognition and rankings

During the 2007-08 school year, Millburn School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[2][3] the highest award an American school can receive.[4][5] In its 2013 report on “America’s Best High Schools”, The Daily Beast ranked the school 69th in the nation among participating public high schools and 6th overall (and the highest-ranked non-magnet school) among schools in New Jersey.[6] The school was ranked 83rd in the nation and fourth in New Jersey on the list of “America’s Best High Schools 2012” prepared by The Daily Beast / Newsweek, with rankings based 25% each on graduation rate, matriculation rate for college and number of Advanced Placement / International Baccalaureate courses taken per student, with 10% based on average scores on the SAT / ACT, 10% on AP/IB scores and an additional 5% based on the number of AP/IB courses available to students; It was the highest-ranked open enrollment (non-selective / non-magnet) school in the state.[7] In the 2011 “Ranking America’s High Schools” issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 4th in New Jersey and 236th nationwide.[8] The school was ranked 170th in Newsweek’s 2009 ranking of the top 1,500 high schools in the United States and was the second-ranked school in New Jersey, with 3.165 AP tests taken in 2008 per graduating senior and 56% of all graduating seniors passing at least one AP exam, after being ranked 151st in 2008.[9] In Newsweek’s 2007 ranking of the country’s top high schools, Millburn High School was listed in 165th place, the third-highest ranked school in New Jersey.[10] The school was 181st, sixth-highest in New Jersey, on Newsweek’s May 8, 2006, list of 1,200 U.S. high schools.[11] Millburn High School was ranked as Number 148 in Newsweek’s 2005 rankings.[12] The school was the 8th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine’s September 2012 cover story on the state’s “Top Public High Schools”, after being ranked 1st in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[13] The school had also ranked highest in the state in the magazine’s 2008 report.[14] The school was ranked 3rd in the magazine’s 2006 rankings out of 316 schools included across the state.[15] Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 31st out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 9 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.5%) and language arts literacy (98.5%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).[16] In 2005-06, the school averaged an 1860 combined SAT score, seventh highest of all public high schools statewide, and the highest score for any non-magnet general admission high school.[17] In 1998, Jay Matthews, an author and education reporter, named Millburn High School the second-best public school in the country, according to ratios of students taking AP exams.

Athletics

Millburn High School now competes in the super Essex Conference, following a reorganization of sports leagues in Northern New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA).[18] Prior to the 2010 realignment, the school had competed in the Skyline Division of the Northern Hills Conference. Known primarily for their consistently strong Boys’ and Girls’ tennis and fencing teams, the Millers have proven to be perennial contenders for state titles in these sports. The school teams are officially called the Millburn Millers. However, most teams simply call themselves Millburn.
The Millburn baseball program has a strong history as a perennial competitor in their conference and section. In 2007, the Millers finished 18-9 and bowed out in their sections’ semifinals. In 2008, the Millers set a school record with 27 wins, finishing 27-5 with conference and winning a North II, Group III state sectional title with a 9-8 win over John F. Kennedy Memorial High School of Iselin after trailing by 8-0 in the game’s fourth inning before losing 17-8 to Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan in the Group III semifinal.[19][20][21] The Millburn Cross Country team has a strong history. The Millers finished 4th in the State of New Jersey at the Meet of Champions in 2007, and 7th in 2009.[22] Coach Jeffrey Kaye won Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2012.[23] In 1966, the Millburn Football team was undefeated and was ranked first in the state. In 2002, the Millers finished the season 6-4 and had the team’s first winning season since 1973 and the first six-game winning season since 1970. In 2006, the Millers finished the regular season 4-4 and qualified for the playoffs for the first time in school history since the playoff system was established in 1973. In the North II, Group III state sectional championship, the team came in as the 8th seed, falling to top-ranked Irvington High School 47-14 in the first round of the tournament.[24] The Millburn wrestling program has a strong tradition that dates back to 1965. In the 2005-06 season, the team won the Northern Hills Conference Suburban Division title and established the school win record with 18 wins. The high school principal, is a former top wrestler from the school, placing first in the wrestling state tournament at the weight class of 157 lbs in 1973.[25] The boys tennis team won the 2006 Group III State Championship, defeating Moorestown High School 3½-1½ in the semifinals and Ramapo High School 5-0 in the finals to take the title.[26] The 2007 team won the North II, Group III state sectional title with a 4-1 win vs. Ridge High School.[27] The 2008 team fell in the Group III Finals to rival Moorestown by a score of 3-2.
On June 6, 2008, sophomore Tyler Udland won the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Meet of Champions 3,200 m with a 9:04.80, the sixth-fastest ever run in the state by a sophomore. Udland became the schools fourth individual Meet of Champions winner, joining All-Americans Tom Lester (junior, discus, 1966), Steve O’Connell (1975, 1976, Mile) and Will Nesbitt (1980, Pole Vault)[28][29] as well as Marty O’Hare (1973, Long Jump).
The 2007 girls tennis team won the North II, Group III state sectional championship with a 5-0 win over Holmdel High School in the tournament final.[30] The team moved on to take the Group III State Championship with a 3½-1½ win over Wall Township High School in the semifinals and Moorestown High School in the finals by a 5-0 score.[31] The Millburn High School Fencing Team has won numerous state championships and produced several international competitors, including Olympian Tamir Bloom. It has also produced many individual state champion fencers. Most recently, Alexander Mills won the New Jersey State Foil title for two consecutive years in 2007 and 2008 and his brother, Michael Mills claimed the state saber title in 2010.[32] In the 08-09 season, the girls fencing team won the state foil title, as well as gold for Overall, led by Brianna Martin who had an individual record of 86-2 and won the New Jersey State Foil individual title.[33] The 2008 boys varsity soccer team won the Group III state sectional championship with a 3-0 win over Moorestown High School.[34] It was the first soccer team in Millburn school history to win an outright Group III championship, and the first since 1987 to win any state sectional championship. The team also captured the Essex County and Northern Hills Conference championships, finishing with a record of 23-2 and ranked 3rd in the state of New Jersey and 32nd in the nation.[35] In 2012 the Millburn boys varsity soccer team won the 2012 NJSIAA Group IV state championship with a 3-2 win over Monroe Township High School, after moving up from Group III before the season.[36] In 2013, the boys and girls cross country teams won the Essex County championship as well as the Group IV state sectional championship. This was the third straight country title for the boys team and the first for girls.[37] [38] The sectional championship was the second in school history for the girls team, the first being in 1988. [39]

Curriculum

Millburn is also known for its academics, and wide offering of AP (Advanced Placement) courses. AP courses are available for: (with grade normally taken in) English Language (11/12th grade), English Literature (12th grade), Calculus AB and BC (12th grade), Computer Science(11/12th grade), Statistics (11/12th grade), Music Theory (10/11/12th grade), Studio Art I&II (10/11/12th grade), Spanish Language (11/12th grade), Spanish Literature (12th grade), French Language (11th/12th grade), Latin Vergil (12th grade), Chinese Language (12th grade), United States History (11th grade), European History (10/11/12th grade), Art History (11/12th grade), United States Government and Politics (11/12th grade), Psychology (12th grade), Microeconomics & Macroeconomics (12th grade), Biology (10th grade), Chemistry (11/12th grade), Physics (11/12th grade), and Environmental Science (12th grade).