In 2009, Maryann Woods-Murphy, a Northern Highlands Regional High School Spanish teacher, was named the New Jersey Teacher of the Year, the highest honor given to a teacher by the state. The school was the 3rd-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 22nd in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 6th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. The magazine ranked the school 8th in 2008 out of 316 schools. The school was ranked 7th in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school 43rd out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (a decrease of 29 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.2%) and language arts literacy (97.7%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). In "Newsweek's" 2014 ranking of the country's top high schools, Northern Highlands Regional High School was listed in 59th place, the 9th-highest ranked school in New Jersey. In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by "The Washington Post", the school was ranked 35th in New Jersey and 1,171st nationwide. The school was ranked 1174th nationwide, the 39th-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, Northern Highlands Regional High School was listed in 766th place, the 16th-highest ranked school in New Jersey. Northern Highlands has a four-day rotating schedule; days are lettered with A through D. Students are scheduled for eight courses, six of which meet daily. This schedule provides longer segments of time (57-minute periods) to engage in higher-order thinking and performance-based learning. To receive a Northern Highlands Regional High School diploma, all students must pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), and earn a minimum of 125 credits including: four years of English and a Freshman Rhetoric course for one semester; one year of World History / Cultures; two years of United States History; three years of Mathematics; three years of Science; two years of World Languages; two years of Career Education & Consumer, Family, and Life Skills, one semester of which is Contemporary Business Technology, one semester of a Financial Literacy course; two years of Visual and Performing Arts; and a year of Physical Education and/or Health for each year a student is in attendance at Northern Highlands.