Carver Among Maryland's Top 10 High Schools: U.S. News Rankings

TOWSON, MD — Maryland's high schools are the best in America, according to U.S. News and World Report, which listed Carver among the state's top performers.

There were 61 high schools in Maryland that made the 2017 list of top high schools compiled by U.S. News. See the methodology at the end of the article.

George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson was the only one of the Baltimore County Public Schools to make it to the top 10. Carver ranked 8th in Maryland, based on U.S. News data.

A total of eight Baltimore County high schools made the best schools list for 2017:

• George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, Towson: 8th in Maryland, 67th among magnet schools, 339th in nation
• Eastern Technical High School, Essex: 10th in Maryland, 69th in magnet schools, 354th in nation
• Hereford High School, Parkton: 12th in Maryland, 161st in STEM, 462nd in nation
• Towson High Law and Public Policy, Towson: 14th in Maryland, 85th in magnet schools, 547th in nation
• Western School of Technology and Environmental Science, Catonsville: 16th in Maryland, 97th in magnet, 605th in nation
• Dulaney High School, Timonium: 17th in Maryland, 620th in nation
• Loch Raven High School, Towson: 30th in Maryland and 1257th in nation
• Franklin High School, Reisterstown: 38th in Maryland and 1531st in nation

Maryland was considered best in America for its high schools due to college preparedness, with 27.5 percent of the state’s schools receiving silver or gold medals; U.S. News assigned schools medals based on Advanced Placement participation, graduation rates and state test scores.

Best Schools In Maryland And U.S.

The top high 10 schools in Maryland are as follows, according to U.S. News:

1. Winston Churchill High, Potomac (National Rank: 75)
2. Thomas S. Wootton High, Rockville (National Rank: 106)
3. Poolesville High School, Poolesville (National Rank: 108)
4. Walter Johnson High School, Bethesda (National Rank: 148)
5. Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville (National Rank: 187)
6. Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville (National Rank: 226)
7. River Hill High School, Clarksville (National Rank: 258)
8. George W. Carver Center for Arts and Technology, Towson (National Rank: 339)
9. Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, Hagerstown (National Rank: 349)
10. Eastern Technical High School, Essex (National Rank: 354)

Click here to see the full list.

The top high schools in the country are as follows, according to U.S. News:

1. BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
2. BASIS Tucson North, Tucson, Arizona
3. BASIS Oro Valley, Oro Valley, Arizona
4. School for the Talented and Gifted, Dallas, Texas
5. BASIS Peoria, Peoria, Arizona
6. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia
7. Basis Chandler, Chandler, Arizona
8. Carnegie Vanguard High School, Houston, Texas
9. School of Science and Engineering, Dallas, Texas
10. Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz, California

Click here to see the full list.

U.S. News Methodology For Ranking Schools

The 2017 rankings of best high schools identify the top-performing public schools at both the national and the state level and include date on more than 20,000 high schools. To be considered among the best, high schools had to pass a rigorous four-step process that sought to determine whether a school was serving all of its students and not just those who are college bound.

The first step determined whether students at a particular school were performing better than statistically expected for students in that state, factoring in percentages of economically disadvantaged students to identify schools. Schools that passed this step then moved on to step two, which assessed whether disadvantaged students performed at or better than state averages for the least-advantaged students.

For the next two steps, U.S. News looked at graduation rates and college readiness performance. To pass step three, high schools had to have a graduation rate of 75 percent or greater. For the 2017 rankings, the graduation rate reflect students who entered the ninth grade in the 2011-2012 school year. Finally, U.S. News calculated a college readiness index, which was the number of 12th graders who took and passed at least one AP test, divided by the number of 12th graders at that school.

To be ranked numerically nationally, schools had to pass steps 1-3 and have a college readiness index of 20.91 or above.

A total of 6,041 schools were ranked, 500 schools receiving gold medals, 2,109 schools receiving silver medals and the remaining 3,432 schools received bronze medals. Schools that received bronze medals passed the first three steps but were not ranked numerically in the national rankings. The state rankings were based on whether a high school received a gold, silver or a bronze medal and had a CRI value of 10 or higher. Previously, only gold and silver medal winners were ranked numerically on the state level.

Related — Top 25 Maryland High Schools Of 2016: U.S. News

—By Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney

Image via BCPS.