All 25 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) high schools earned spots on the 2023 Best High Schools list published by U.S. News & World Report. Five ranked in the top 500 nationally, and nine were ranked in the top 30 in Maryland. Poolesville High School was ranked first in Maryland and 140th nationally.

The MCPS schools that made the top 30 list in Maryland are:

• Poolesville High School (#140 in National Rankings; #1 in Maryland)
• Walt Whitman High School (#147 in National Rankings; #3 in Maryland)
• Thomas S. Wootton High School (#235 in National Rankings; #4 in Maryland)
• Winston Churchill High School (#252 in National Rankings; #5 in Maryland)
• Walter Johnson High School (#462 in National Rankings; #9 in Maryland)
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (#574 in National Rankings; #12 in Maryland)
• Richard Montgomery High School (#681 in National Rankings; #13 in Maryland)
• Northwest High School (#963 in National Rankings; #18 in Maryland)
• Montgomery Blair High School (#1,285 in National Rankings; #26 in Maryland)

See the Maryland list of Best High Schools.

U.S. News and World Report uses the following categories when ranking high schools:

• College Readiness – 30%
  ​The proportion of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on at least one Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exam. Earning a qualifying score is worth three times more than just taking the exam
• State Assessment Proficiency – 20%
  Aggregated scores on state assessments that students may be required to pass for graduations
• State Assessment Performance – 20%
  How aggregated scores on state assessments compare with U.S. News' expectations given the proportions of students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households.
• Underserved Student Performance – 10%
  Scores on state assessments aggregated just among students who are Black, Hispanic and from low-income households. These scores are compared with what is typical in the state for non-underserved students, with parity or higher being the goal.
• College Curriculum Breadth – 10%
  The proportions of 12th graders who took and earned a qualifying score on AP and IB exams in multiple areas. More exams are valued more than fewer exams up to a maximum of four. Earning a qualifying score on an exam is worth three times more than taking.
• Graduation Rate – 10%
  The proportion of ninth graders who graduated four years later.

Read more about how U.S. News calculates the Best High Schools rankings.

###