NoVA School Districts Ranked Among Virginia's Best On 2023 Niche List

VIRGINIA — Northern Virginia school districts ranked among the state's school districts in the education platform Niche’s 2023 Best Schools and Districts rankings released Tuesday.

The 2023 Best School Districts ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, and more. Read more on how this ranking was calculated.

Falls Church City Public Schools topped the ranking of Virginia school districts, part of Niche’s ranking of 11,820 school districts nationwide. 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
• Sports: A
• Resources and facilities: A-
• Diversity: B
• College prep: A+
• Administration: A-
• Food: B-

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. West Point Public Schools: A
5. Loudoun County Public Schools: A
6. Fairfax County Public Schools: A
7. Virginia Beach City Public Schools: A
8. Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools: A
9. Wise County Public Schools: A-
10. Montgomery County Public Schools: A-
11. Albemarle County Public Schools: A-
12. Goochland County Public Schools: A-
13. Charlottesville City Schools: A-
14. Chesapeake Public Schools: A-
15. Roanoke County Public Schools: A-
16. Charlotte County Public Schools: A-
17. Prince William County Public Schools: A-
18. Louisa County Public Schools: A-
19. Highland County Public Schools: B+
20. Stafford County Public Schools: B+
21. Salem City Schools: B+
22. King George County Public Schools: B+
23. Powhatan County Public Schools: B+
24. Radford City Public Schools: B+
25. Patrick County Public Schools: B+

Niche also ranked 92,743 public schools and 30,112 private schools in the 2023 report. 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.

On the nationwide list, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was ranked as the seventh-best public high school in the U.S. The governor's school was ranked as the top public high school in Virginia, followed by a top 25 dominated by Northern Virginia schools.

SEE ALSO: Virginia's Best Public, Private High Schools: New Rankings Released

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.