Towson High School Earns 'Gold Medal' from U.S. News

Baltimore County Public Schools issued the following statement Thursday:

Five Baltimore County Public Schools made U.S. News & World Report’s “Best High Schools” list of the top public high schools, and two—Eastern Technical and Towson high schools—earned “gold medal” status under the magazine’s system of ranking schools.

“Our high schools have earned a permanent spot on many of the annual ‘best’ lists every year, and we can be proud of the job our students and educators do to achieve these recognitions year in and year out,” said Superintendent Dallas Dance. 

Said Dance: “We can learn a lot from our recognized schools as we work each day to replicate student success wherever we find it to all of our schools and all of our classrooms.” 

Related: Which Are Maryland's Top High Schools? 2014 Rankings Revealed

This year’s rankings were culled from data from more than 19,400 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Partnering with the American Institutes for Research, the magazine analyzed state reading and math assessment scores, demographic information, college-readiness measurements such as AP tests, and other factors. The magazine published “Best High Schools” lists in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, and 2013. 

A total of 42 (from among 244) high schools in Maryland made the list of the nation’s top schools, including the following Baltimore County high schools: 

• Eastern Technical High School (ranked seventh in Maryland /270 nationally) (Gold Medal)
• Towson High School (8/273) (Gold Medal)
• Western School of Technology and Environmental Science (34/1,324) (Silver Medal)
• Loch Raven High School (35/1,353) (Silver Medal)
• Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts (40/1,690) (Silver Medal)

The “Gold Medal” designation means that a school places in the top 500 schools on the survey based on a high degree of student college readiness. A “Silver Medal” means a school is high performing but has a lower degree of student college readiness.

The full U.S. News & World Report “Best High Schools” list may be found at www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools.