2 Montgomery County Schools Climb Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools 2016

BETHESDA, MD — Two Montgomery County schools broke into the top 100 among Newsweek's Top Public High Schools for 2016, published Thursday morning.

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to come up with a “college readiness index.” The rankings are meant to show how well high schools do at preparing students for college.

Poolesville High School ranked at No. 32 on the list, at the top of the state's schools. Last year, the school was at 110.

Walter Johnson High School came in at No. 72 in 2016, up from 395 last year.

See complete coverage of Maryland's top schools rankings.

The results were determined based on:

• Holding power
• Ratio of counselor/full-time equivalent to student enrollment
• Weighted SAT/ACT
• Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite
• Graduation rate
• College enrollment rate

Also, there were 4,452 schools nationwide that were listed among those that are “beating the odds.” In that ranking, a school’s college readiness scores were adjusted for how they compared against other schools that had similar percentages of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.