More than a dozen high schools in the D.C. area are listed among the top 100 in the nation, according to Newsweek magazine’s annual survey.
Arlington’s H.B. Woodlawn took the region’s top spot, at 27th, followed by Rockville’s Richard Montgomery. Overall, Montgomery County had seven schools in the top 100, Arlington had three, D.C. Public Schools had two, and Fairfax and Falls Church each had one.
Scores are determined by dividing the total number of official college-level exams taken – such as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests – by the total number of graduating seniors. Pass rate is not taken into account.
The Washington region’s perennial top-scorer, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, was not included in the survey because it accepts only extraordinarily high-performing students.
Instead, the survey “is designed to honor schools that have done the best job in persuading average students to take college-level courses and tests. It does not work with schools that have no, or almost no, average students,” Newsweek says.
