U.S. News & World Report today announced its 2024 ‘Best High Schools’ rankings. The rankings evaluate nearly 18,000 public high schools at the national, state and local level. There are 255 public high schools in Maryland. Eight of the top 20 can be found in Montgomery County, with all but one MCPS school in the top half of the rankings.
“The 2024 Best High Schools rankings offer a starting point for parents to understand a school’s academic performance, whether it’s a prospective school or one that their child is already attending,” says LaMont Jones, Ed.D., managing editor of education at U.S. News. “Accessible data on our high schools can empower families across the country as they navigate today’s educational environment and plan for the future.” The top 20 ranked public high schools in Maryland can be seen below:
1. Eastern Technical High School (Baltimore, MD)
2. Walt Whitman High School (Bethesda, MD)
3. Poolesville High School (Poolesville, MD)
4. Thomas S. Wootton High School (Rockville, MD)
5. Winston Churchill High School (Potomac, MD)
6. Richard Montgomery High School (Rockville, MD)
7. Urbana High School (Ijamsville, MD)
8. Western School Of Technology (Baltimore, MD)
9. River Hill High School (Clarksville, MD)
10. Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (Bethesda, MD)
11. Chesapeake Science Point (Hanover, MD)
12. Severna Park High School (Severna Park, MD)
13. George W. Carver Center for Arts and Technology (Towson, MD)
14. Baltimore Design School (Baltimore, MD)
15. Walter Johnson High School (Bethesda, MD)
16. Towson High Law and Public Policy (Towson, MD)
17. Centennial High School (Ellicott City, MD)
18. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (Baltimore, MD)
19. Marriotts Ridge High School (Marriottsville, MD)
20. Northwest High School (Germantown, MD)
Rankings of other MCPS High Schools:
Clarksburg (25), Wheaton (29), Blair (31), Springbrook (33), Einstein (37), Sherwood (43), Damascus (47), Magruder (48), Rockville (51), Paint Branch (57), Quince Orchard (69), Blake (74), Northwood (78), Seneca Valley (83), Kennedy (93), Gaithersburg (110), Watkins Mill (146)
The full list of Maryland rankings can be found here.
Per U.S. News & World Report, “the highest ranked public schools in the 2024 Best High Schools national rankings are those with students who achieved exceptional scores on state assessments for math, reading and science. These schools also had strong underserved student performance, college readiness and curriculum breadth, as well as high graduation rates. College readiness specifically measures participation and performance on Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams, while underserved student performance focuses on students who are Black, Hispanic or from low-income households. U.S. News worked with RTI International, a global research firm, to implement the comprehensive ranking methodology.”