Winston Churchill High School in Potomac jumped five spots to No. 3 in Maryland in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings, released Tuesday, Aug. 18.

The climb from No. 8 last year is the largest single-year gain among MCPS schools in the state's top 10, based on year-over-year data reported by Bethesda Magazine. Churchill also ranked No. 172 nationally among nearly 18,000 public high schools evaluated.

Five MCPS schools landed in Maryland's top 10: Poolesville High (No. 2), Churchill (No. 3), Walt Whitman in Bethesda (No. 4), Thomas S. Wootton in Rockville (No. 5) and Richard Montgomery in Rockville (No. 7). Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore held the No. 1 spot statewide.

Churchill's U.S. News profile shows an 84% Advanced Placement participation rate, a 12th-grade enrollment of 536 students and 11% of students classified as economically disadvantaged.

How the rankings work

U.S. News evaluates schools on six factors, with college readiness weighted most heavily at 30% of the total score, WTOP reported. The full list:

  • College readiness: proportion of seniors who took and earned a qualifying score on AP or IB exams
  • College curriculum breadth: percentage of students taking a wide variety of AP/IB courses with qualifying scores
  • Proficiency on math, science and reading state assessments
  • Performance on state assessments compared with predictions based on student demographics
  • Performance on state assessments for Black, Hispanic and low-income students
  • Graduation rate

Other MCPS movers

Montgomery Blair High in Silver Spring made the biggest leap among the top 20, jumping from No. 42 to No. 20. Bethesda-Chevy Chase moved from No. 20 to No. 17, and Richard Montgomery climbed from No. 11 to No. 7. Walter Johnson in Bethesda held steady at No. 14.

Not every school gained ground.

Whitman dropped from No. 2 to No. 4, and Wootton fell from No. 3 to No. 5.

Back-to-school context

The rankings arrive one week before MCPS students return to class on Tuesday, Aug. 25. The district heads into the school year with a new all-day cell phone ban for students, about 255 cut positions and nearly 160 unfilled new roles after the school board's 7-1 budget vote in May, and a $36 million gap between expenses and approved funding in the county council's $7.9 billion operating budget.

Churchill itself faces a capacity crunch. The Montgomery County Planning Board placed the school in Tier 1 of its FY2027 Annual School Test, meaning the campus is projected to be moderately overutilized by the 2030-31 school year.

Meanwhile, MCPS stopped covering AP and IB exam fees for students who do not meet state College and Career Readiness qualifications, according to WTOP. MCPS spokesperson Liliana López said in a July 14 email that the change aligns with the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. That policy shift is notable for a school where 84% of students take AP courses.

The full U.S. News rankings are available at usnews.com.