Montgomery County high schools dominate new rankings of the best schools in Maryland and the Washington area.
The lists were compiled by the Pittsburgh-based website Niche.com.
In Maryland, county schools took eight of the top 10 positions. Poolesville was No. 1, Walter Johnson (WJ) No. 2 and Walt Whitman No. 3. Other county schools in the top 10 were Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) at No. 5, Richard Montgomery No. 6, Winston Churchill No. 7, Montgomery Blair No. 8 and Thomas S. Wootton No. 10.
The non- Montgomery County schools in the top 10 were from Howard County: River Hill in Clarksville and Mount Hebron in Ellicott City.
In the ranking of schools in the D.C. region, Montgomery County schools took seven of the top 10 slots, with Poolesville at No. 2 and WJ No. 4. Others county schools in the D.C.-area top 10 were Whitman at No. 5, B-CC No. 6, Richard Montgomery No. 7, Churchill No. 9 and Blair No. 10.
Schools outside of Montgomery County in the top 10 regionally were Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria at No. 1, The School Without Walls High School in Washington No. 3, and Washington-Lee of Arlington No. 8.
“I think it’s great for the community to have our school acknowledged and to rank high in some of the publications,” said WJ Principal Jennifer Baker.
According to Niche.com, the rankings were based on such factors as grades, state test results and SAT/ACT scores, as well as survey responses on academics, culture and diversity, and health and safety.