Best Schools: How Prince William County Ranked In 2022 Niche List

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — The latest school rankings released by the data analysis company Niche offer a look at how K-12 schools in Prince William County compare with each other.

Niche, which released its eighth annual version of the rankings on Monday, looks at a variety of criteria in determining a grade for both public and private K-12 schools in Prince William County, including academics, teachers and diversity.

Here are how the schools in Prince William County fared in the rankings:

• St. John Paul The Great Catholic High School
  • Niche grade: A
  • Ranked as the best private high school in the county.
• Battlefield High School
  • Niche grade: A
  • Ranked as the best public high school in the county.
• Patriot High School
  • Niche grade: A
  • Ranked as the second best public high school in the county.
• Charles J. Colgan High School
  • Niche grade: A
  • Ranked as the third best public high school in the county.
• Mary G. Porter Traditional School
  • Niche grade: A
  • Ranked as the best public elementary school in the county.

Niche said its 2022 best schools rankings offer a more “personal” view of schools than its rankings in recent years. Significantly less importance was placed on SAT and ACT scores this year, Niche said. Any factor in its methodology that is related to test scores was reduced by one third.

Overall, the Prince William County school district ranked as the 20th best school district in Virginia with a "B+" Niche grade. The county received an "A+" for diversity and an "A" for college prep.

The company combined ratings from students, alumni and parents with quantitative data from the U.S. Department of Education and other sources to evaluate teachers, resources, facility, extracurricular activity opportunities and other factors. Read more about the methodology here.

Across the country, Niche ranked 94,491 public schools, 2,489 private schools and 11,846 school districts to come up with its lists and rankings.

Top 5 Public High Schools:

1. The Davidson Academy in Reno, Nevada
2. The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
3. Massachusetts Academy for Math & Science School
4. Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Virginia
5. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology in Virginia

Top 5 Private High Schools:

1. Phillips Academy in Massachusetts
2. The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut
3. Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut
4. The College Preparatory School in California
5. Groton School in Massachusetts

Top 5 School Districts:

1. Adlai E. Stevenson High School District in Illinois
2. Glenbrook High School District in Illinois
3. Great Neck Public Schools in New York
4. Community High School District 128 in Illinois
5. Jericho Union Free School District in New York

See the full Niche rankings here