US News ranks this school the third-best high school in the county and fourth-best in the state. According to their website, they base their rankings on six main criteria: college readiness in the form of AP/IB tests (30%), college curriculum breadth (10%), state assessment proficiency (20%), state assessment performance (20%), underserved student performance (10%) and graduation rate (10%).
With data on academics, extracurriculars, sports and more available, what are the best metrics to compare schools? What factor is the most important in determining how high a school should be ranked?
A recent issue of the Moco360 Media magazine compiled data on high schools in Montgomery County. The table they created includes statistics on average SAT scores, graduation rates, college and career readiness, teacher experience and AP/IB tests.
Average SAT score
Walt Whitman achieved the highest average SAT score in 2023 of 1285, with Poolesville’s average of 1280 being a close second. The SAT is a standardized test that aims to measure a student’s knowledge of math, reading and writing. “I think [SAT] does say something about the students and the level of teaching that they’re receiving. Obviously there are also certain situations where test scores would be impacted without it necessarily being a reflection of the students or the teaching that is happening. So, I would be cautious [using average SAT score] but I understand why it is a metric and why it is useful,” College and Career Counselor Jennifer MacDonald said.
AP/IB Tests
Richard Montgomery ranks highest for AP/IB tests, with 81.4% of students achieving a three or higher on AP tests or a four or higher on IB tests. However, Richard Montgomery is also the only school on the magazine’s list with an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In second place is Walt Whitman with 80.2% of students achieving a score of three or higher on AP tests (the school does not offer IB). “For us [at this school], I think AP is a pretty accurate metric. But we are at an advantage that other schools might not be,” MacDonald said.
In fact, this past May, 1,188 students took at least one AP exam, with 2,825 AP exams taken in total. Moreover, 63% of seniors and 80% of juniors took at least one AP exam last year. This is largely due to the fact that this school has so many AP offerings. “Even if you aren’t a math student taking AP Calculus, let’s say you were artsy, there’s AP Music Theory, there’s AP 3D and 2D art, all these wonderful other options. It’s a little more fair at this school and a little more likely that students will be taking AP classes,” MacDonald said.
Staff Experience
While Sherwood has the highest percentage of staff with over 15 years of experience (80.5%), it is ranked 14th in the county and 43rd in the state by US News, far lower than this school, which has 64.6% of staff with over 15 years of experience, the fourth highest in the county. Damascus comes in second with 72.1% of their staff with 15+ years of experience. However, both Sherwood and Damascus do not rank in the top five for SAT scores, graduation rate or AP/IB test scores.
There are pluses and minuses associated with having a staff with extensive experience. “While I believe that teachers fresh out of college may sometimes be inexperienced and not be able to control unruly students as well, newer teachers can provide a fresher perspective,” freshman Arya Subramanian said. “I have been able to connect with some of my younger teachers more because they understand subjects more relevant to my generation. Especially since the 2020 pandemic, that understanding is more important than ever as many students struggle more to make connections with their teachers and peers.”
Graduation Percentage Rate
Poolesville achieved the highest graduation rate for the class of 2022-2023 with 99.4% of students graduating. Wootton was a close second with 98% of students graduating, and Churchill came in third with 97.2% graduating. The schools with the four highest graduation percentage rates ended up ranking in the top five of at least three different categories on Moco360 Media’s table.
College and Career Readiness
Moco360 Media measures college readiness as an SAT score of 480 for reading and writing and 530 for math, a standard set by College Board. Even though this school ranked fourth in average SAT scores, it ranks first in college and career readiness, with 82.8% of students scoring above the College Board benchmark.
Students at this school find college and career readiness to be a more accurate metric than simply average SAT scores. “Average SAT scores can be heavily impacted by magnet students at schools like RM [Richard Montgomery] and Poolesville, but I think this statistic does a good job representing the student body as a whole, not just the magnet students,” senior Aanya Kapoor said.
Wootton ended up ranking in the top five in all of the five mentioned categories (SAT score, graduation rate, AP/IB test scores, teacher experience and college and career readiness). Winston Churchill, which ranked second in college and career readiness, ended up ranking in the top five in four categories, all but teacher experience. In fact, the top four schools in college and career readiness ranked in the top five of at least three categories.
GPA
Grade point average is one statistic not included in Moco360 Media’s data table. In an academic world where hundreds of universities are test-optional, GPA has become an important factor in college admissions. However, it may not be the best metric to compare schools. “Since we are such a big county, I think it’s hard to be sure that what kids are learning in physics here is the same as physics in every other school. I think a little bit of that is going to be the teacher as well. If you have a teacher who has done a lot of work personally in that field, maybe they bring something extra, so your physics grade was harder to get and more hard earned, but that was just sheer luck at the school you went to,” MacDonald said.
There are two forms of GPA. An unweighted GPA is on a 4.0 scale, looking solely at the letter grade achieved in the class, while a weighted GPA is on a 5.0 scale, taking into consideration whether the class taken was honors/AP or on-level. “I could see why looking at unweighted could be more fair since it takes away honors and AP, which equalizes schools that don’t offer the courses that we do,” MacDonald said.
Overall, based on the data presented by Moco360 Media, it seems that graduation percentage rate and college and career readiness are the most accurate representations of the success of a school’s student body and should be used when comparing schools in the same county.
