Newsweek Ranks Churchill Among Top 500 High Schools

is receiving recognition for its excellence after the school ranked no. 91 in Newsweek’s list of the top 500 public high schools in America.

Churchill is among eight MCPS high schools that made the list, which was released June 20. The other schools are Poolesville (64), Thomas S. Wootton (102), Walt Whitman (117), Bethesda-Chevy Chase (145), Walter Johnson (215), Richard Montgomery (242) and Sherwood (468).

Churchill received an overall score of 0.747 from the magazine, which has been ranking American public schools for more than a decade. The ranking reflects a school’s success turning out "college-ready (and life-ready) students," with scores determined by graduation rate, college matriculation rate, AP tests taken per graduate, average SAT/ACT scores, average AP/IB/AICE scores and AP courses offered.

Newsweek reported that in the 2010-2011 school year Churchill students took an average of 4.4. AP or IB tests each and received an average of 1824 on the SAT. Churchill had a 98 percent graduation rate and 85 percent of graduates were college-bound.

Nearby Wootton High School ranked no. 102 with students who took an average of 4.2 AP or IB tests each and received an average of 1822 on the SAT. Wootton has a 98 percent graduation rate and 85 percent of those who graduated are going to college.

The Newsweek list was put together this year by a panel of experts, including representatives from Teach for America and Open Education Solutions, and a Stanford professor of education. 

Churchill’s rankings from Newsweek came on the heels of their rankings in the lists of exemplary high schools compiled by The Washington Post in their 2011  released in May. Churchill ranked no. 98 on The Post’s list of best high schools in the nation, ranked no. 10 out of 170 public schools in the Washington, D.C., metro area and ranked no. 6 on the list of high schools in Maryland.