All 25 Montgomery County public schools earned spots on the 2021 Best High Schools list, published by U.S. News & World Report. Five ranked in the top 500 nationally, and eight were ranked in the top 25 in Maryland. Walt Whitman High School was ranked first in Maryland and 105th nationally.

Other MCPS schools that made the top 25 list in Maryland are:

• Poolesville High School (#119 in National Rankings; #2 in Maryland)
• Thomas S. Wootton High School (#179 in National Rankings; #4 in Maryland)
• Winston Churchill High School (#308 in National Rankings; #5 in Maryland)
• Walter Johnson High School (#455 in National Rankings; #11 in Maryland)
• Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (#569 in National Rankings; #13 in Maryland)
• Richard Montgomery High School (#755 in National Rankings; #18 in Maryland)
• Northwest High School, (#980 in National Rankings; #25 in Maryland)

U.S. News uses six indicators to determine school quality:

• College readiness, based on 12th grade students who took and earned a qualifying score on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams
• College curriculum breadth
• Math and reading proficiency, based on state tests
• Math and reading performance, based on state tests and the school's proportion of underserved students
• Performance of Black, Hispanic and low-income students on state tests
• Graduation rate

The complete rankings are available here.