Walt Whitman High Leads Rankings of Maryland's Best High Schools (ICYMI)

Note: This story originally published on April 19.

BETHESDA, MD — U.S. News and World Report has released its rankings of 21,000 public high schools across the country, again placing Bethesda high schools among the best educations that America has to offer.

Walt Whitman High ranked No. 1 in Maryland and 69th nationally, according to the U.S. News rankings released overnight.

Walter Johnson High was ranked 5th statewide and No. 147 in the nation.

This is the first year that the rankings include graduation rates. Walt Whitman's graduation rate is at 98 percent. Read the full methodology.

Thomas S. Wootton High in Rockville ranked No. 4 in Maryland and 115th nationally, according to the U.S. News rankings. The Thomas Wootton graduation rate is at 98 percent.

Richard Montgomery High was ranked 6th statewide and No. 260 in the nation.

Overall, Maryland was at the top of the list of states with nationally-ranked high schools. Virginia was ranked No. 12.

Here are Maryland's top 10 schools.

Change to How Schools Picked

In a major change to the Best High Schools rankings methodology, U.S. News added a step this year focused on graduation rates. High schools that make it past the first two steps of the process had to meet or exceed a national standard high school graduation rate to be considered top-performing schools and to be ranked at a national level.

This marks the first time graduation rates have been used in ranking high schools at this scale. As part of this effort, U.S. News has published graduation rates for all high schools on its website for the first time.