5 Howard County Schools Among Newsweek’s Top Public High Schools 2016

COLUMBIA, MD — Five Howard County schools were included in 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.

Two schools were in the top 200: River Hill High at No. 173 and Marriotts Ridge High at No. 190.

Three other schools also made the list:

263. Mt. Hebron High School, Ellicott City

273. Glenelg High School, Glenelg

315. Atholton High School, Columbia

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.