Best School Districts In Virginia Ranked For 2024

VIRGINIA — Falls Church City Public Schools has again been ranked as the best in Virginia in Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings, which was released this week.

The Falls Church district was among 68 Virginia school districts included in Niche’s ranking of 12,192 school districts nationwide. The national list includes 364 newly ranked school districts.

Niche gave Falls Church City Public Schools a letter grade of A+. Grades in specific categories were:

• Academics: A+
• Teachers: A
• Clubs and Activities: A-
• Diversity: B-
• College Prep: A+
• Administration: B
• Sports: A-
• Resources and Facilities: B+
• Food: C

The school district, which has over 2,600 students in five buildings, received high marks from students, parents and teachers.

"I love the diversity of classes that this school offers," wrote a student in a review. "If you want to take hard IB/AP classes, you can. If you want to go easy, you can do that too and there are great electives offered as well."

A parent reviewer summed it up like this: "I've had three children in the Falls Church City public school system for 9 years. The teachers are wonderful, the IB program is brilliant, the administrators are caring and kind, the other parents are very involved. The community is comprised of highly-educated, liberal, worldly, progressive, well-intentioned parents. The problem is that housing is so expensive that there are very few people from non-privileged backgrounds."

For more information, read the full report on Falls Church City Public Schools.

The top 25 school districts in Virginia and the letter grades assigned by Niche include:

1. Falls Church City Public Schools: A+
2. Arlington Public Schools: A+
3. York County School Division: A
4. Loudoun County Public Schools: A
5. Virginia Beach City Public Schools: A
6. Fairfax County Public Schools: A
7. Albemarle County Public Schools: A
8. Louisa County Public Schools: A
9. Goochland County Public Schools: A-
10. Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools: A-
11. Roanoke County Public Schools: A-
12. Hanover County Public Schools: A-
13. Charlotte County Public Schools: A-
14. Norton City Public Schools: A-
15. West Point Public Schools: A-
16. Chesapeake Public Schools: A-
17. Prince William County Public Schools: A-
18. Charlottesville City Schools: A-
19. Wise County Public Schools: A-
20. Montgomery County Public Schools: A-
21. Salem City Schools: A-
22. Patrick County Public Schools: A-
23. Radford City Public Schools: A-
24. Pittsylvania County Public Schools: B+
25. Franklin County Public Schools: B+

You can find other school districts by searching Niche's Best School Districts in Virginia ranking.

Niche also ranked 94,058 public schools and 30,809 private schools. The platform said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet.

The top public high school in Virginia was Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a competitive, admissions-based school. Three schools in Loudoun County and one in Arlington County rounded out the top five.

The rankings differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.

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