The Challenge Index | Index Chart Page 1 | Index Chart Page 2

How demanding are Washington area high schools? Here each public high school is ranked by a number rating that reflects how much a school encourages students to take Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and their internationally recognized tests. The rating is not a measurement of the quality of a school overall or the achievements of its students and faculty- it is strictly focused on AP and IB courses. The rating is determined by dividing the number of students in the school's graduating class last June.

    Compared with high schools across the country, Washington area schools overall are among the most encouraging of AP and IB testing. for instance, any school with a rating of 1.000 or above is in at least the top 2 percent for all U.S. high schools in encouraging students to take AP and IB courses.

    Most schools use AP tests and some use both AP and IB. Schools measured by their IB tests are marked with an asterisk.

    Also listed are the name of the school district and the percentage of school's students whose family incomes are low enough to qualify for federally subsidized lunches and who also apply for that program. The number of subsidized-lunch applicants is provided as a rough indicator of the socioeconomic factors that may affect a school's performance or expectations. The number of such applicants usually understates the portion of poor children in a given school.

The Challenge Index (#1-62)

1 George Mason Middle-High School* Falls Church 3.146 10% 2 H-B Woodlawn Arlington 2.676 13% 3 Montgomery High School* Montgomery 2.316 13% 4 Langley High School Fairfax 1.987 1% 5 West Potomac High School Fairfax 1.597 25% 6 James Madison High School Fairfax 1.415 6% 7 Yorktown High School Arlington 1.414 14% 8 McLean High School Fairfax 1.398 10% 9 Wilson Senior High School D.C. 1.281 23% 10 Churchill High School Montgomery 1.253 2% 11 Oakton High School Fairfax 1.238 8% 12 Wootton High School Montgomery 1.234 3% 13 W.T. Woodson High School Fairfax 1.196 7% 14 George C. Marshall High School Fairfax 1.193 25% 15 Blair High School Montgomery 1.177 24% 16 Roosevelt High School Prince George's 1.173 19% 17 Whitman High School Montgomery 1.17 2% 18 Centreville High School Fairfax 1.16 10% 19 Mount Vernon High School* Fairfax 1.156 33% 20 Johnson High School Montgomery 1.123 6% 21 Bethesda- Chevy Chase High School Montgomery 1.084 11% 22 South Lakes High School Fairfax 1.069 16% 23 James Robinson Secondary School Fairfax 1.055 8% 24 Washington- Lee Senior High School Arlington 1.039 37% 25 School Without Walls D.C. 1.012 0% 26 Central High School* Prince George's 1.01 42% 27 Poolesville High School Montgomery 1.009 4% 28 Hylton High School Prince William 0.991 7% 29 Chantilly High School Fairfax 0.989 8% 30 Centennial High School Howard 0.986 2% 31 West Springfield High School Fairfax 0.984 6%

32 Stonewall Jackson Senior High School* Prince William 0.946 17% 33 Woodbridge High School Prince William 0.944 15% 34 Quince Orchard High School Montgomery 0.943 10% 35 Falls Church High School Fairfax 0.938 35% 36 Brentsville District High School Prince William 0.936 5% 37 Lake Braddock Secondary School Fairfax 0.93 13% 38 Herndon High School Fairfax 0.904 13% 39 Gar-Field High School Prince William 0.885 15% 40 Loudoun Valley High School Loudoun 0.857 6% 41 Fairfax High School Fairfax 0.833 18% 42 Sherwood High School Montgomery 0.774 9% 43 J.E.B.Stuart High School* Fairfax 0.757 54% 44 Broadneck High Anne Arundel 0.748 2% 45 Wakefield Senior High School Arlington 0.722 47% 46 Severna Park High Anne Arundel 0.715 2% 47 Liberty High Fauquier 0.711 11% 48 Fauquier High Fauquier 0.674 7% 49 Magruder High School Montgomery 0.674 15% 50 Bell Multicultural Senior High School D.C. 0.653 N/A 51 South River High Anne Arundel 0.65 3% 52 Paint Branch High School Montgomery 0.647 10% 53 Einstein High School Montgomery 0.633 27% 54 Springbrook High School Montgomery 0.63 23% 55 Osbourn Park High School Prince William 0.621 11% 56 Westlake High School Charles 0.615 7% 57 T.C. Williams High School Alexandria 0.613 33% 58 Thomas A. Edison High School Fairfax 0.606 25% 59 Annapolis High Anne Arundel 0.603 11% 60 Lackey High School Charles 0.578 20% 61 Robert E. Lee High School Fairfax 0.571 22% 62 Rockville High School Montgomery 0.563 20%