WAPO | May 2016 - America's Most Challenging High Schools

EDUCATION JAY MATHEWS America's Most Challenging High Schools: Making the grade America’s Most Challenging High Schools ranks schools through an index invented by Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews. The index formula is a simple ratio: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school in 2015, divided by the number of graduates that year. Noted in our national and local tables are the percentage of students eligible for government meal subsidies — a common benchmark for poverty — and each school’s average scores on the SAT, a common college entrance exam with a national average of 1497 out of 2400. Mathews considers college test participation a better measure of school success than test scores, which largely reflect parental income. Schools with ratios of 1.000 or above make the list. The list has grown to include nearly 2,300 schools across the country and more than 180 in the Washington region. It includes some private schools - noted with a (P) - for comparison. Certain public schools with highly selective admissions are omitted from the list, but information about them can be found online, along with full local and national lists, at washingtonpost.com/highschoolchallenge. Regional Rankings The top 50 Washington-area schools, as ranked. The Washington Post's Jay Mathews. Principal schools are marked with a (p)
RANK	SCHOOL	LOCATION	CHALLENG RATING	MEALS SUBSIDY %	AVERAGE SAT SCORE
1.	Washington International (P)	Washington, D.C.	6.922	n/a	1888
2.	Winston Churchill	Potomac, md	6.488	4	1836
3.	School Without Walls	Washington, D.C	5.893	20	1738
4.	Washington-Lee	Arlington, VA	5.714	33	1697
5.	Richard Montgomery	Rockville MD	5.469	18	1743
6.	McLean	Fairfax County VA	5.426	9	1852
7.	H-B Woodlawn	ArlingtonVA	5.418	18	1821
8.	Bethesda Chevy Chase	Bethesda MD	5.383	12	1763
9.	Poolesville	Poolesville MD	5.351	7	1886
10.	Oakton	Fairfax County VA	5.239	13	1792
11.	Yorktown	Arlington VA	5.165	14	1772
12.	Walt Whitman	Bethesda MD	5.097	2	1872
13.	Quince Orchard	Gaithersburg MD	5.012	22	1624
14.	George Mason	Falls Church VA	4.941	7	1776
15.	Walter Johnson	Bethesda MD	4.633	7	1751
16.	Thomas S. Wootton	Rockville MD	4.558	6	1831
17.	James Madison	Fairfax County VA	4.514	10	1786
18.	Holton-Arms (P)	Bethesda MD	4.431	n/a	1976
19.	Dominion	Sterling VA	4.411	21	1638
20.	Langley	Fairfax County, VA	4.346	2	1850
21.	Centennial	Ellicott City MD	4.342	9	1797
22.	South River	Edgewater MD	4.310	12	1581
23.	Banneker	Washington, D.C.	4.255	65	1499
24.	Herndon	Herndon VA	4.231	39	1668
25.	Centreville	Fairfax County VA	4.214	25	1672
26.	Indian Creek (P)	Crownsville MD	4.167	33	1689
27.	Columbia Heights	Washington, DC	4.144	90	1190
28.	Marriotts Ridge	Marriottsville MD	4.117	5	1773
29.	National Cathedral (P)	Washington, D.C.	4.105	n/a	2096
30.	Robinson Secondary	Fairfax County VA	4.097	11	1728
31.	River Hill	Clarksville MD	4.012	6	1788
32.	Georgetown Visitation (P)	Washington DC	4.000	n/a	1953
33.	Lake Braddock Secondary School	Fairfax County VA	3.962	16	1692
34.	Annapolis	Annapolis MD	3.953	49	1388
35.	Severna Park	Severna Park MD	3.916	5	1664
36.	Southern	Harwood MD	3.851	25	1467
37.	Urbana	Ijamsville MD	3.841	5	1640
38.	Broadneck Sr	Annapolis MD	3.808	10	1628
39.	Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart (P)	Bethesda MD	3.785	n/a	1838
40.	Briar Woods	Ashburn VA	3.758	4	1640
41.	Northwest	Germantown MD	3.733	26	1588
42.	Fairfax	Fairfax VA	3.707	27	1675
43.	West Springfield	Fairfax County VA	3.677	13	1705
44.	W.T. Woodson	Fairfax County VA	3.637	11	1810
45.	Stone Bridge	Ashburn VA	3.611	6	1666
46.	Eleanor Roosevelt	Greenbelt MD	3.606	43	1536
47.	Tuscarora	Leesburg VA	3.570	16	1601
48.	Osbourn Park	Manassas VA	3.536	28	1569
49.	Chesapeake Science	Point Hanover MD	3.515	26	1615
50.	Loudoun County	Leesburg VA	3.483	14	1614