Amid one of North America’s most polarising ages, many people in the country are looking for places of community – this is no less the case for HNWs. Schools offer an opportunity for people from different backgrounds to come together, share opinions and learn from one another, something which each of the US schools in this Index value deeply.
With alumni including Hollywood actors, politicians and billionaire tech moguls, the leading private schools in the US have produced some of the best-known people in the world. However, these schools do not purely produce the Jake Gyllenhaals and Mark Zuckerbergs of the future. By encouraging debate, public speaking, education in future technologies, the arts and sport, these schools nurture truly well-rounded students who can graduate to find success in numerous fields.
Explore other schools within the Spear’s Schools Index:
- UK senior schools
- UK prep schools
- Switzerland schools
- Europe (excluding Switzerland) schools
- Middle East schools
- Asia Pacific schools
- Rest of the world schools
America’s Ivy League universities are widely accepted as being some of the hardest places of their kind to get into in the world. Consisting of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania, students have to stand high above a notably tall crowd – something which the private schools in this Index help their students to achieve. By training students to achieve iron-clad SAT results, to build up an enviable list of extra curricular pursuits and to have an earnest interest for academia, these schools often enter swathes of graduates into these elite colleges.
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Compiled by the Spear’s Research Unit as well as a panel of expert judges, this list of the best private schools in North America features schools which balance rich histories of pedagogy with eyes set firmly on the future. Students from these schools are confident, compassionate and inquisitive – something which should set them in good stead for the world ahead.
Click the links below to jump to a section of this article:
- Methodology
- The best private schools in North America: some names to know
- The complete list of top private schools in North America
- Find out more
Methodology
Spear’s has worked closely with the expert team at Thuso to refine the methodology underpinning the index, and to convene an expert panel of leading international educationalists to contribute their knowledge and insight to the research and selection process.
The Spear’s Research Unit collected data and information directly from candidate schools, using a combination of online forms and interviews. This was supplemented with additional research and intelligence and insight from Thuso and the panel of expert educationalists.
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The Spear’s Schools Index has also been underpinned by the following key principles:
- While examination results and academic attainment are key considerations, they are not the only things that matter. Leading schools are not necessarily the most academic. ‘Hot houses’, therefore, are not to be viewed with approbation.
A wide range of social, cultural, and pastoral factors have been weighed in finalising the index. In some cases, some schools with strong academics have been omitted where they fall short in relation to these wider considerations. Notably, the team have been cognisant also of ‘cultural’ and ‘value based’ factors which are of growing concern in relation to many families. This is especially relevant in a climate in which some schools may be viewed as adopting an ‘indoctrinatory’ approach that might risk stifling free debate and the associated critical thinking. - Families are increasingly mobile, with new global cities emerging as key hubs. This is particularly the case for cities such as Dubai, as well as established regional hubs in Europe, Africa, Latin America, South-East Asia, and the Pacific. Likewise, a growing number of families, often citing concerns over cultural considerations, are opting for more ‘traditional’ institutions, in Africa, East Asia, and the Middle East, in preference to institutions in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland.
- Reputation and standing are not insignificant. The reputation and standing of a school shape and influence its character, the parents and pupils it attracts, and its position both regionally, and internationally. In particular, some of the schools best established in the Index continue to draw many generations of international families, demonstrating the extent to which they have retained the trust of alumni.
Further information about the composition of the panel is available here.
The best private schools in North America: some names to know
Ransom Everglades School
- Focus: Honour and integrity
- State: Florida
- Day fees: $54,800
In the words of Ransom Everglades School founder Paul C Ransom, students who attend the school ‘believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it’.
Based across two campuses in Miami, the school strives to develop students who pride themselves on their academic rigour alongside their morals. Its carefully curated curriculum is reflective of this; students are taught to be independent thinkers, capable of collaborating with others but confident enough to defend their own ideas.
Read Ransom Everglades School’s full profile at Spears500.com
Collegiate School
- Focus: Forging bonds of brotherhood
- City: New York
- Day fees: $68,900
New York City’s Collegiate School for boys is ‘old, yet not old-fashioned’, and constantly refreshes its kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum while holding on to a strong sense of the past.
With a core ethos of respect, kindness and integrity, Collegiate aims to create a safe and nurturing environment for its students to achieve both personal and academic excellence. Students of the school are quick to gain a sense that they are part of something bigger than themselves; younger students learn to have fun while learning, while those in the upper school explore different subjects, topics and ways of thinking. All have access to a variety of after-school programmes, clubs and sports.
Read Collegiate School’s full profile at Spears500.com
Harvard-Westlake School
- Focus: Character and the pursuit of excellence
- State: California
- Day fees: $52,500
An independent school for students in grades 7–12, Harvard-Westlake is the result of the 1991 merger of the Harvard School (for boys), founded in 1900, and the Westlake School for Girls, established in 1904.
Built upon the four guiding principles of community, excellence, integrity and purpose, the school encourages each student to grow not only within themselves but as part of a wider community.
Read Harvard-Westlake School’s full profile at Spears500.com
The Taft School
- Focus: Educating the whole student
- State: Connecticut
- Day fees: $60,100
- Boarding fees: $81,400
The Taft School’s motto, non ut sibi ministretur sed ut ministret, (not to be served, but to serve), crafted by the school’s founder, Horace Dutton Taft, 125 years ago, continues to shape the school and its ethos. The vast majority of the school’s student body are boarding pupils, in line with the founder’s belief that ‘a great advantage of boarding school is that it gives opportunities for students to get out of themselves’.
Set in a beautiful 226-acre campus in western Connecticut, the school’s facilities are state-of-the-art. They include a vast library, a 45,000-square-foot science and maths building, two theatres, two ice hockey rinks and an 18-hole golf course. Academic life is rigorous, with more than 200 courses on offer every semester, but development and understanding is a key focus. Therefore, there is plenty of one-on-one teaching.
Read The Taft School’s full profile at Spears500.com
The complete list of top private schools in North America
Find out more
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