U.S. News & World Report has released its annual Best High Schools in the Nation and Best High Schools in New Jersey rankings, and some Union County high schools, including Summit High, did quite well:

• The Academy for Allied Health Sciences — part of Union County Vo-Tech in Scotch Plains — ranked #4 in the state, #106 in the U.S.
• Union County Magnet High School in Scotch Plains was #13 in New Jersey and #243 in the U.S.
• Westfield High School has come in at #19 statewide and 370th nationally.
• Summit High School was #25 in New Jersey and #425 nationally.
• The Academy for Information Technology — also part of Union County Vo-Tech in Scotch Plains — ranked #27 in New Jersey and #443 in the U.S.
• New Providence High School ranked 31st in New Jersey and #549 nationally.
• Union Cty. Vo-Tech High School in Scotch Plains was not ranked but was "recognized nationally."

The Academy for Allied Health Sciences, Union County Magnet, Summit High School, Westfield High School and The Academy for Information Technology were all awarded Gold ratings. New Providence High School had a Silver designation. Union County Vo-Tech enjoyed a Bronze designation.

See the full New Jersey list here.

To make the evaluations, U.S. News teamed up with the Washington, D.C.-based American Institutes for Research (AIR), described as "one of the largest behavioral and social science research organizations in the world."

Schools were awarded gold, silver, or bronze medals based on state proficiency standards, how well they prepare students for college, and other factors — including how economically disadvantaged kids fared compared to statewide averages. The full methodology can be found here.

"It's always interesting to see these national rankings," Summit Schools Superintendent Dr. Nathan Parker told Patch. Parker noted that he was happy to see Summit High ranking so well — something owed to "great teachers and great programs" — but he felt that such surveys "unfortunately don't capture the number of championship teams, the number of awards in the performing arts from the Paper Mill Playhouse and the number of times students win national awards in forensics and other competitions."

Parker acknowledged another factor in student performance.

"I thank all our parents for helping our students to achieve at the highest level."

Of course, such surveys have their critics. As one commenter on a Huffington Post story about the survey wrote: "Like almost all of these lists, it is not the 'best schools' being identified, but the 'schools with the best students.' As someone else once said (forget who) it would be like ranking hospitals based on how healthy the patients are when they check in?" The commenter noted that a high number of magnet schools made the top of the list.

U.S. News calculates these values based on student performance on state exit exams and internationally available exams on college-level coursework (AP®/IB exams).

- West Orange Editor Liz Alterman contributed to this story.