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Westchester Catholic Schools Among State's Best In New Rankings

Niche.com, an online ranking and review site, has released its 2017 list of the 100 best Catholic high schools in the state.

The graduating Class of 2016 at School of the Holy Child wear their college gear to school, officially announcing their college choices. Holy Child in Rye came in at No. 5 on Niche.com's list of the 100 best Catholic high schools in New York state.

The graduating Class of 2016 at School of the Holy Child wear their college gear to school, officially announcing their college choices. Holy Child in Rye came in at No. 5 on Niche.com's list of the 100 best Catholic high schools in New York state.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Three schools in Westchester made it into Niche.com's Top 10: Rye’s School of the Holy Child (No. 5), The Ursuline School in New Rochelle (No. 9), and Iona Preparatory School, K-12 (No. 10).

Fordham Preparatory School came in at No. 8 on Niche.com’s list. Although Fordham is in the Bronx, it attracts a lot of students from Westchester.

Other Westchester schools that made Niche.com’s list were: The Montfort Academy, Mount Vernon (No. 25); John F. Kennedy High School, Somers (No. 33); Archbishop Stepinac High School, White Plains (No. 66); Maria Regina High School, Hartsdale (No. 72), and Salesian High School, New Rochelle (No. 77).

In Rockland County, Bardonia’s Albertus Magnus High School came in at No. 38 on Niche.com's Top 100 list.

In Dutchess County, Poughkeepsie’s Our Lady of Lourdes was No. 53 on Niche.com’s top 100 list.

The schools were given overall ratings by Niche.com, and those were broken down into various categories such as academics, teachers, diversity, and sports.

The national student to teacher ratio is 16:1.

Niche.com data, by area school:

School of the Holy Child

Overall rating, A+; academics, A+; teachers, A, teachers; diversity, B-; college readiness, A+.

Holy Child has 288 students. The student to teacher ratio is 8:1. And tuition there is $33,450.

The average SAT score was not available, but the average ACT score was 29.

No data was available on graduation rates, teacher salaries, absenteeism, or overall student satisfaction.

Ursuline

Overall rating, A; academics, A; teachers, A-; clubs/activities, A+; diversity, B-; college preparedness, A; and sports, A.

There are 786 students. The student-teacher ratio is 10:1. Tuition is $18,250

Average SAT score is 1240; ACT, 29.

Top three picks for Ursuline grads: Villanova University, Fordham University, Boston College.

Students’ favorite events: Ring Day, prom and graduation.

All students surveyed agree they are competitive, 92 percent that they are creative and artsy, 92 percent, athletic.

Eighty-two percent of students surveyed said teachers give engaging lessons; 82 percent, that teachers care and 88 percent that they lead/control classroom.

Eighty-six percent agree there are plenty of clubs to get involved in; 57 percent that they get the funding they need, and 86 percent that student participation is high.

Fordham Prep

Overall rating, A; academics, A;  teachers, A-; clubs and activities, A+; diversity, B; college readiness, A; and sports, A. It has 1,000 students. The student to teacher ratio is 11: 1. Tuition is $18,410.

The average SAT score is 1260; the ACT, 30.

Popular colleges: Boston College, Fordham University, and Georgetown University. All of the students surveyed said they felt safe and happy and liked their school. Favorite at-school events included Christmas assembly, retreats, and the Turkey Bowl.

Eighty percent of students and parents agree that students are competitive, 73 percent that students are creative and artsy; 93 percent that they are athletic.

Eighty-nine percent of students and parents agree that teachers give engaging lessons; 89 percent think the teachers care, and 83 percent think teachers adequately lead and control the classroom.

Ninety percent agree there are plenty of clubs and organizations; 71 percent agree clubs/organizations get the funding they need and 90 percent feel that lot of students participate in clubs.

Iona Prep

Overall rating, A; academics, A; teachers, B+; clubs/activities, A; diversity. B-; college readiness, A; sports, A+.

There are 750 students. The student to teacher ratio is 15:1. Tuition is $17,200.

The average SAT score is 1220; the ACT, 30.

Top three college picks of Iona grads: Georgetown University, Boston College, and New York University.

Eighty-three percent of students surveyed feel safe; 67 percent like their school and are happy there.

Favorite student events: Olympics Day, sports awards dinner, and small events during lunch periods.

Eighty-nine percent of students say they are competitive; 78 percent, creative and artsy; and 100 percent that they are athletic.

Eighty-three percent say teachers give engaging lessons; 75 percent that teachers genuinely care, and 75 percent that they lead and control the classroom.

Seventy-six percent say there are plenty of clubs/organizations; 53 percent, that clubs get enough funding, and 76 percent that a lot of students participate.

Montfort

Overall rating, B+; academics, B; teachers, B-; diversity, A; college readiness, B+.

There was no data on clubs/activities or sports.

There are 168 students. Student to teacher ratio is 11:1. Tuition is $11,500.

The average SAT score was 1070. There was no data on ACT scores.

The top three colleges eyed by Montfort grads: New York University, Manhattan College, and Cornell University.

John F. Kennedy

Overall rating, B, academics, B+; teachers, C+; clubs/activities, A; diversity, B; college readiness, A-; and sports, A.

There are 586 students. The student to teacher ratio is 18:1. There was no data available for tuition costs.

The average SAT score was 1210; ACT, 30.

The top three picks for colleges at JFK were: Fordham University, Manhattan College Binghamton University, SUNY.

All of the students surveyed said they feel safe at school; 70 percent like school and are happy.

Events/activities they liked were the homecoming game, sports, and the debate and drama clubs.

Ninety percent agree students are competitive; 60 percent that they’re creative and artsy, and 90 percent that they’re athletic.

Fifty-six percent agree teachers give engaging lessons; 75 percent that they genuinely care, and 56 percent that they control/lead in the classroom.

Eighty percent said that there are plenty of clubs/organization; 20 percent, that extracurricular activities get enough funding; and 20 percent, that lots of students participate.

Albertus Magnus

Overall rating, B; academics, B; teachers, B-; clubs and activities, A; diversity, B+, college readiness, B; and sports, A-.

There are 522 students. The student to teacher ratio is 13:1. There was data on tuition.

The average SAT score was 1,200; ACT, 27.

Top three colleges of choice: Manhattan College, Fordham University, Binghamton University, SUNY.

All of the students surveyed said they feel safe and happy in school.

Top three activities they listed: Spirit week, homecoming games, and school plays.

Eighty-three percent of students surveyed said they were competitive; 50 percent, creative and artsy; and 67 percent athletic.

Eighty-two percent agree that teachers give engaging lessons, and all said teachers genuinely care and that they have control of their classrooms.

Sixty percent agree there are plenty of clubs and 80 percent thinks there’s good participation. But apparently, no one felt that the clubs were getting enough funding.

Our Lady of Lourdes

Overall rating, C+, academics, B-; teachers, C; clubs/activities, A-; diversity, B-; college readiness, B-; and sports, A.

There are 690 students. The student to teacher ratio is 17:1. There was no data on tuition.

The average SAT score was 1210; ACT, 28.

Top three colleges students were looking at Marist College, Binghamton, SUNY; and Fordham University.

Eighty-three percent of students surveyed feel safe: and 67 percent said like the school and are happy there.

Top three events they listed were: Spirit week, the class trip to Disney, and Homecoming game.

Ninety-three percent of students surveyed agreed they are competitive, 50 percent that they’re creative and artsy, and 93 percent that they’re athletic.

Seventy-one percent of students and parents agreed that teachers give engaging lessons; 86 percent that teachers genuinely care, and 86 percent that they lead and control their classrooms.

Ninety-one percent said there plenty of clubs; 36 percent that there is enough funding, and 82 percent that lots of students participate.

Archbishop Stepinac

Overall rating, C+, academics, C+; teachers, C+; clubs/activities, A+; diversity, B; college readiness, B-; and sports, A+.

There are 682 students. The student to teacher ratio is 14:1. There was no data on tuition.

Eighty-eight percent told Niche.com that they feel safe and 100 percent that they like the school and are happy.

Top three activities: sporting events, drama club plays, and concerts.

Ninety-four percent of the students Niche.com surveyed agree that they are competition; 75 percent, creative and artsy, and 94 percent, athletic.

Eighty-three percent of parents and students surveyed said that teachers give engaging lessons; 83 percent, that teachers genuinely care, and 74 percent that they lead and control their classrooms.

Everyone surveyed said are plenty of clubs and organizations at the school; 80 percent that there is enough funding, and 100 percent said that lots of students participate.

Maria Regina

Overall rating, B-, academics, B-; teachers, C; clubs and activities, A+; diversity, B-; college readiness, B-; and sports, A+.

There are 539 students. The student to teacher ratio is 15:1. There was no data on tuition.

The average SAT was 1120; ACT, 26.

The top three colleges grads looked at are Iona College, Manhattan College, and New York University

Seventy-seven percent of the students surveyed said they feel safe and happy.

Top activities included: Pep rally, Halloween and food drive tie at top of list, then Thanksgiving food drive, pep rally, Friday Mass, and Homecoming.

Ninety-five percent agree students are competitive; 95 percent that they’re creative and artsy and 100 percent that they’re athletic.

Seventy-six percent said teachers give engaging lessons; 79 percent that teachers genuinely care, and 79 percent that they lead and control classrooms.

Salesian

Overall rating, C+, academics, C+; teachers, C; diversity, B+; and college readiness, B-. There were no Niche.com stats on clubs/activities and sports.

There are 527 students and the student to teacher ratio is 18:1. There was no data on tuition.

Average SAT score, 1080; Average ACT 24.

Top three colleges looked at by grads: Fordham University, Iona College, Manhattan College.

Niche.com had no responses on the other surveys.

However, teacher engagement, caring, and control all rated 100 percent.

For more on Niche.com and the way it comes up with its rankings, click here.

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