Five Montgomery County high schools ranked among the country’s 500 best in the latest version of an annual list released by U.S. News & World Report.
Among them was Poolesville High, the only local school to crack the top 100, checking in at No. 90 nationally and first in the state.
Last year, Poolesville was No. 58 in the state and 2,380 nationally.
A document explaining U.S. News’ methodology to determine the rankings says small fluctuations in students’ performance could lead to major movement in rankings.
“Even very small movements in a school’s data can result in changes,” the document says.
Last year, MCPS argued that the U.S. News list was missing key data about four schools — including Poolesville — that would have increased their rankings.
U.S. News refuted the claim, saying it assessed the schools “consistent with our methodology.”
Bethesda’s Walt Whitman High School, last year’s top school in Maryland, was ranked No. 2 and No. 105 nationally in this year’s report.
Other Montgomery County high schools in the state’s top 25 were:
- Thomas S. Wootton High, 3rd
- Winston Churchill, 4th
- Walter Johnson, 6th
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase, 13th
- Richard Montgomery, 14th
- Quince Orchard, 20th
- Damascus, 25th
Bethesda Beat was provided an embargoed copy of the rankings list on Monday. When asked for comment, an MCPS spokesman said school districts do not receive the information in advance and was unable to provide comment.
U.S. News says it uses six factors to determine school quality, including graduation rates, students’ performance on state tests in math and reading, the percentage of students who take and pass college-level courses, and the overall performance of black, Hispanic and low-income students.
Data from the 2017-18 school year were used in this year’s rankings, according to U.S. News.
The report compares more than 24,000 public high schools across the country.
Some community members have been critical of the rankings list in the past, saying it is shallow, lacking consideration of schools’ diversity and ability to overcome other challenges, not captured by assessments. Ranking schools solely based on academic performance is inadequate, some advocates say.
In a document explaining the demographic breakdown of nationally ranked schools, U.S. News said nearly half of all schools had at least an enrollment of at least 25% black or Hispanic students.
About 40% of all ranked schools receive federal Title I funding, distributed to schools with high proportions of students in low-income households.
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Montgomery County high schools and their state and national rankings:
Poolesville: 1st in state; 90th nationally
Walt Whitman: 2; 105
Thomas S. Wootton: 3; 128
Winston Churchill: 4; 133
Walter Johnson: 6; 344
Bethesda-Chevy Chase: 13; 567
Richard Montgomery: 14; 604
Quince Orchard: 20; 807
Damascus: 25; 1,031
Northwest: 26; 1,037
Paint Branch: 35; 1,330
James Hubert Blake: 36; 1,508
Clarksburg: 38; 1,529
Montgomery Blair: 43; 1,848
Rockville: 46; 2,011
Sherwood: 48; 2,063
Wheaton: 61; 2,854
Springbrook: 63; 2,903
Col. Zadok Magruder: 68; 3,180
Albert Einstein: 83; 4,235
Northwood: 93; 4,943
Gaithersburg: 94; 5,025
John F. Kennedy: 112; 6,665
Seneca Valley: 116; 7,160
Watkins Mill: 132; 9,293
Thomas Edison High School of Technology was not included in the rankings.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
