Montgomery High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in the Skillman section of Montgomery Township, in Somerset County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Montgomery Township School District.
As of the 2021–22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 1,561 students and 112.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.8:1. There were 50 students (3.2% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 15 (1.0% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.
The district's District Factor Group ranking of "J" indicates that the school serves students of relatively high socioeconomic status.
History
After the Princeton Public Schools announced that it could not accommodate students, the Montgomery district had sought the possibility of a regional high school with the Hillsborough Township School District and also sought other sending-receiving relationships.
Ground was broken in April 1968 for a building that would accommodate an enrollment of 1,100 students and be constructed at a cost of $3.3 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The original high school opened in January 1969 for students in grades 7-10, before which students from the township attended Princeton High School under the terms of a sending/receiving relationship. A new high school building opened for the 2005-06 school year.
The school had been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools from 1976 until 2013, when the school's accreditation status was removed.
Awards, recognition and rankings
For the 1992–93 school year, Montgomery High School was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 13th in New Jersey and 636th nationwide. The school was ranked 643rd nationwide, the 18th-highest in New Jersey, in Newsweek magazine's 2010 rankings of America's Best High Schools. In Newsweek's May 22, 2007 issue, ranking the country's top high schools, Montgomery High School was listed in 656th place, the 13th-highest ranked school in New Jersey.
The school was the 33rd-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology. The school had been ranked 61st in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 10th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 16th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 4th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state.
Schooldigger.com ranked the school 39th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 7 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.3%) and language arts literacy (98.1%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Testing
Montgomery was recognized in 2006 as excellent in Advanced Placement Art History; all 203 students who took the AP exam that year scored 3 (out of 5) or above.
SAT Scores
In 2005–06, Montgomery averaged a 1760 combined SAT score, 15th-highest statewide, and ranked 7th among all non-magnet, general admission public high schools. In 2006–07, Montgomery averaged a 1755 SAT score, 14th-highest in the state and the 7th-highest for any non-magnet, general admission public high school.
Student activities
Clubs and publications
Montgomery High School offers multiple academic, co-curricular and athletic club programs.
In science, Montgomery High School has a FIRST Robotics Competition Team, TSA TEAMS, science league, science bowl, and Science Olympiad. The band program also offers several extracurricular activities, including: a marching band which plays at every varsity football game and at various area competitions, where they have received superior ratings and special awards such as "Best Overall Effect", "Best Color Guard", and "Best Music"; a jazz band; and a lower-level jazz group called the "Stage Band." All musical ensembles are non-competitive, and only attend competitions in exhibition.
The Yearbook is called the Lens and, since 2007, is printed in full color.