Winston Churchill Ranked #1 in Maryland

Nine Montgomery County public schools earned spots on the 2017 Best High Schools list, published by U.S. News & World Report. Five MCPS high schools received a gold medal, including Winston Churchill High School which ranked 1st in Maryland and 75th nationally. Additionally, four Montgomery County public schools received a silver medal for being among the top 2,609 high schools in the nation.

The following Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) high schools received recognition in the report:

• Winston Churchill (#75 in National Rankings, #1 in Maryland)

• Thomas S. Wootton (#106 in National Rankings, #2 in Maryland)

• Poolesville (#108 in National Rankings, #3 in Maryland)

• Walter Johnson (#148 in National Rankings, #4 in Maryland)

• Richard Montgomery (#187 in National Rankings, #5 in Maryland)

• Col. Zadok Magruder (#514 in National Rankings, #13 in Maryland)Damascus (#662 in National Rankings, #19 in Maryland)

• Paint Branch (#811 in National Rankings, #22 in Maryland)

• Wheaton (#1019 in National Rankings, #27 in Maryland)

MCPS accounted for more than 12 percent of all the Maryland high schools that received a gold medal and had the top five high schools in the state.

(See how MCPS high schools performed on the Best High Schools List)

U.S. News & World Report worked with North Carolina-based RTI International to evaluate more than 20,000 high schools across the nation, using a four-step process. The analysis first evaluated schools on their overall student performance on state-mandated assessments and then, how effectively schools educated their African American, Hispanic and economically disadvantaged students. Researchers then looked at graduation rates, along with school participation and performance on Advanced Placement (AP) exams to determine how well the schools prepared students for college-level work. Based on the results of their analysis, the researchers created a College Readiness Index for each school. (Learn more about the methodology).