Best Schools in Maryland

Maryland’s public schools rank among the best in the country. There are 647 private schools in Maryland, serving 116,934 students. The average private school tuition is $7,852 for elementary schools and $10,652 for high schools, and they are among some of the best schools in Maryland. Based on a comprehensive survey, we have compiled a  list of some of the best schools in Maryland, from private to public, and everything in-between.

So, if you are looking for either the best high schools in Maryland, best elementary schools in Maryland, best private schools in Maryland, best middle schools in Maryland, best public schools in Maryland, best public high schools in Maryland, and cities with the best schools in Maryland, The good news is we can help you discover what might be most important to you with our unique ranking methodology. In addition, we provide a variety of school information resources to help you gain insight into the schools and school districts in Maryland.

Best Private Schools in Maryland

In Maryland, private elementary schools have an average math proficiency score of 63% (versus the Maryland public school average of 43%) and a reading proficiency score of 71% (versus the 48% statewide average). This indicates that a student enrolled in a private elementary school gets a significantly better education than the state average. Maryland has a strong public school system, but families who want more options will find plenty of private schools in the state. The best schools combine small class sizes with a diverse and challenging curriculum.

The best private schools often require high tuition, which can be cost-prohibitive for many families. However, there are also plenty of excellent private schools that are affordable. These schools typically have a religious or other affiliation that guides their curriculum. Some of these schools focus on developing future leaders through participation in community service projects or government internships. Others focus on arts and athletics. Here is a list of top private schools in Maryland which are known for their fantastic curriculum:

1. McDonogh School, Owings Mills

McDonogh School was founded in 1873 in Owings Mills, Maryland, as a private, coeducational, PK-12, college-preparatory school. The school is named after John McDonogh, whose estate provided the initial funding. Today, the school has about 1,300 students, with 90 to 100 of them enrolled in the Upper School’s five-day boarding program. About 177 full-time faculty members work at McDonogh, with more than 80% of them holding advanced degrees and 20% of them living on campus.

English, foreign language, history, mathematics, science, visual and performing arts, and physical education are all part of the Upper School’s college-ready curriculum. All academic disciplines offer Honors or Advanced Placement courses. Students in the upper grades must also fulfill a community service obligation. During the final three weeks of their senior year, all students work independently or in small groups on an academic project.

2. Indian Creek School, Crownsville

Crownsville, Maryland’s Indian Creek School is a coeducational, university-preparatory school. It caters to children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Anne Coleman Chambers and Rebecca Randolph, two educators, created Indian Creek School in September 1973. Coleman Chambers and Randolph had both worked as teachers in the Prince George’s County, Maryland, public school system, and they wanted to start a school with smaller class sizes so that kids would be more challenged.

The new school was built on a 17-acre (0.069 km2) campus on Evergreen Road in Crownsville, Maryland, on land donated by Coleman Chambers’ parents. Tracy Coleman, Jr., her brother, helped with the building and ultimately became Indian Creek’s Transportation and Physical Plant Director. The initial operating budget for Indian Creek School was $40,000. The Indian Creek Upper School offers a four-year STEM program that focuses on individual research.

Students conduct one-year independent research projects in their first and second years, followed by a two-year STEM thesis in their junior and senior years. The Voros Senior Thesis in the Humanities program at Indian Creek allows seniors to work with a faculty member to produce a 40-60 page thesis in the humanities or social sciences.

3. Gilman School, Baltimore

Gilman School is an all-boys independent school in Baltimore, Maryland’s Roland Park area. Lower School is for students in grades pre-kindergarten through five; Middle School is for students in grades six through eight, and Upper School is for students in grades nine through twelve. It was the first country day school in the United States, opening in 1897 as the Country School for Boys. Daniel Coit Gilman, the first president of Johns Hopkins University, was an early supporter of Anne Galbraith Carey’s efforts to establish an all-boys day school.

Gilman has about 1,000 students enrolled, ranging from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, who 146 faculty Teachers. It is a member of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Association of Independent Maryland Schools. Lower School (pre-kindergarten through grade five), Middle School (grades six through eight), and Upper School (grades nine through twelve) are the three divisions of the school (grades nine through twelve).

Students in the Upper School must take a history, mathematics, English, science, and a foreign language each semester, an intramural or interscholastic sport each season, and a minimum of art, music, and religious education throughout the course of four years. Students must also complete community service and have the option of participating in a variety of extracurricular activities. In Newsweek’s 2019 nationwide survey of US high schools, Gilman’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) department was ranked Number 312.

4. The Park School of Baltimore, Brooklandville

Park is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian, progressive day school for children in Pre-Kindergarten (age 4) through grade twelve in Baltimore, Maryland. Park is in Brooklandville, Maryland, which is close to Baltimore. Park began as a private K-12 school in 1912, based on the progressive teaching ideas articulated by John Dewey and others. The termination of Baltimore City’s progressive Superintendent of Schools James Van Sickle by newly elected Mayor James H. Preston in 1911 prompted the institution’s establishment.

Park developed a policy of welcoming all religions because the city’s private schools had quotas drastically restricting the number of Jewish kids enrolled at the time.

5. St. Paul’s School for Boys, Brooklandville

St. Paul’s School for Boys is a private, coed Episcopal school in Brooklandville, Maryland. The school is located in the Green Spring Valley Historic District, about ten miles (16 kilometers) north of Baltimore in suburban Baltimore County, on a 120-acre (0.49 km2) rural campus. For pupils in the Upper School, St. Paul’s School for Boys offers a college-preparatory curriculum (grades 9-12). The IB Diploma Program is available at the institution. St. Paul’s also provides theater, concert chorale, digital arts, and visual arts courses, many of which are cross-registered with St. Paul’s School for Girls across the street. Boys can enroll in Advanced Placement courses at the girls’ school.

6. Roland Park Country Day School, Baltimore

Roland Park Country School is an independent girls’ day school serving students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12 in Baltimore, Maryland. The school is one of the best schools in Maryland. It was founded more than a century ago by Miss Elizabeth Harrison, who envisioned a progressive educational program grounded in the notion that all students can learn. Today, RPCS is still committed to this foundational philosophy that students can achieve when teachers engage them as individuals and inspire them to pursue their goals. The school offers traditional instructional methods and progressive teaching approaches designed to motivate students of varying learning styles to support this philosophy.

7. St. Timothy School 

St. Timothy School is the largest private school in Maryland and the 2nd largest nationally. It has 652 students in grades PK-8. Next on the list is Key School which has 479 students and is rated 1st among high schools in Maryland. The school is accredited by the Association of Independent Maryland and DC Schools (AIMS), the Association of Boarding Schools, and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, all of which makes it one of the best schools in Maryland.

At this school, students can thrive in a community that offers a variety of academic credit courses through an online platform. Online classes are available to all students, including those at boarding schools or day school campuses. Online courses are typically taught by highly qualified teachers who are dedicated to providing individualized instruction with tailored learning plans while collaborating with other teachers to support each student.

8. St. Paul’s School for Girls Baltimore, MD

Founded in 1909 as a mission of the Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s School for Girls is an independent college-preparatory day school serving girls in grades five through 12 on two campuses across the Baltimore area. The school’s mission is to provide a rigorous academic program that enables girls to think critically, reason logically, and express themselves creatively and clearly; to develop young women who understand their self-worth and responsibility to others; to prepare students for leadership life service and personal fulfillment.

Read also: Best High Schools in the World

Best Public High Schools in Maryland

The Best High Schools ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using the US Department of Education data. Ranking factors include state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, public school district ratings, etc. Maryland is an excellent state to study in. It has various colleges and universities, ranging from big public institutions to small private liberal arts schools. And Marylandisn’t just good for college; it’s great for high school!

There are plenty of top-notch high schools in the Old Line State. The best public high schools in Maryland are listed below. It’s only natural that these public schools would be located in some of Maryland’s best places to live. The rankings cover all public high schools in the state, including traditional public schools and charter schools. There are many high schools in the state of Maryland, but the 10 best are all public schools.

These schools have been chosen for their outstanding academic programs, extracurricular activities, and excellent faculty, making them one of the best schools in Maryland.

1. Montgomery Blair High School

Montgomery Blair High School (MBHS) is a public high school run by Montgomery County Public Schools in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. With a total enrollment of 3,200 students, it is Montgomery County’s and Maryland’s largest public high school. Montgomery Blair, a lawyer who represented Dred Scott in his Supreme Court appeal and later served as Postmaster General under President Abraham Lincoln, is the school’s namesake. The Blair name was chosen in 1935 when the school moved to 313 Wayne Avenue, overlooking Sligo Creek, after starting in 1925 as Takoma Park–Silver Spring High School.

The campus was relocated to the Kay Tract, a long-vacant site close to the Capital Beltway, in 1998, and the original structure was renovated to house Silver Spring International Middle School and Sligo Creek Elementary School. There is an Honors Program and an Advanced Placement Program at the school. With its internet connection being live in the late 1980s, the school is one of the few US high schools with a .edu domain name.

MBHS is home to two student news publications that are run independently: Silver Chips is the school’s self-funded print newspaper, and Silver Chips Online is the school’s only online edition, which won the National Scholastic Press Association Online Pacemaker Award in 2004 and 2005.

2. Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School

B-CC High School (Bethesda-Chevy Chase) is a public high school in Montgomery County, Maryland. It has the names of two of the towns it serves: Kensington and Silver Spring. It is located in Bethesda at 4301 East-West Highway. Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School was ranked #6 in Maryland and #151 in the country in May 2012. The school features 80 classrooms, a media center with 30 computer workstations, a greenhouse, a music laboratory and choral chamber, two gymnasiums and a weight training facility, a 900-seat theater, and a restaurant serving breakfast and lunch.

In addition, B-CC boasts two “firsts” in Montgomery County Public Schools: a Cyber Café, which debuted in March 2003, and a Language Lab, which was established in the summer of 2004. B-CC High School received 80 Promethean digital classroom boards in 2008.

3. Richard Montgomery High School

Montgomery County’s first International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is housed at the school. This competitive-entry magnet program attracts kids from all around Montgomery County and boasts the highest IB diploma rate in the country at 97 percent. Incoming freshmen have a 10% acceptance rate for the IB program. An entrance examination, middle school records, teacher recommendations, and personal essays are used to determine admission. Richard Montgomery High School (RMHS) is one of the best schools located in Rockville, Maryland.

The Tide, a student newspaper, and Fine Lines, a student literary journal, are both available at Richard Montgomery. In 2013, the America Scholastic Press Association awarded The Tide First Place with Special Merit. It’s Academic, a quiz bowl team led by Richard Montgomery, won the National Scholastics Championship in 2002. They won the NAQT National High School Championship Tournament in Chicago in 2006.

4. Walt Whitman High School

Walt Whitman High School is a public high school in Bethesda, Maryland, that serves students in grades 9 through 12. It is named after Walt Whitman, an American poet. Montgomery County Public Schools uses the school to educate students in grades 9 through 12. With 1,418 students, the school started in the fall of 1962. It was erected on 17 storeys, with a central courtyard and a geodesic dome for its gymnasium, and was designed by local architectural company McLeod, Ferrara & Ensign. A Ford Foundation grant funded the dome’s design and construction.

The school erected a 1,176-seat auditorium in 1981. The geodesic dome and all other structures except the auditorium were demolished in 1992, and construction on a new school facility began in the fall of 1993.

5. Thomas S. Wootton High School

Wootton High School (WHS), also known as Thomas Sprigg Wootton High School, is a public high school in Rockville, Maryland. The founder of Montgomery County, Thomas Sprigg Wootton, is its namesake. The Montgomery County, Public Schools system operates the school formed in 1970. Half of Cabin John Middle School and Robert Frost Middle School flow into the school. In Newsweek’s 2019 nationwide survey of US high schools, Wootton’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program was placed #160. Based on performance on state-mandated examinations, graduation, and how well students are prepared for college, Wootton was ranked #128 in the National Rankings in 2020.

6. Walter Johnson High School

Walter Johnson High School (commonly known as Walter Johnson or WJ) is a public high school in North Bethesda, Maryland (Bethesda postal address). WJHS serves the towns of Garrett Park and Kensington, as well as parts of Bethesda, North Bethesda, Potomac, and Rockville. Montgomery County Public Schools is in charge of it (MCPS). The school, which was named after local baseball pitcher and politician Walter Johnson, originally opened its doors to students in grades 10-12 in 1956.

The Spartan was the school’s first mascot, but it was replaced in 1963 by the Mighty Moo, which was named after the cows who roamed the fields before the school was created. After a 1987 merger with adjacent Charles W. Woodward High School, Walter Johnson kept its school colors of white and green but acquired Woodward’s mascot, “Wild Thing” the Wildcat.

7. Poolesville High School

Poolesville High School is one of the best schools, a public all magnet high school located in Poolesville, Maryland, United States. Poolesville was named the #1 Most Challenging High School in Maryland by the Washington Post in 2016, the #1 Best High School in Maryland by US News, and the #1 Top High School in Maryland by Newsweek in 2015. In Newsweek’s 2019 countrywide assessment of US high schools, the school’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) department was placed #121. The school has a total of 1,180 students who 65 full-time instructors teaching throughout all grade levels and magnet programs.

Conclusion

Determining the best schools in Maryland or the best district for your child depends on several factors. Some are obvious, and some may not be. The US News Best High Schools rankings include data on more than 23,000 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Nearly 18,000 schools were ranked on six factors based on their performance on state assessments and how well they prepare students for college. The list was created by looking at data from two sources: US News & World Report and Niche.com.

US News & World Report ranked Maryland’s top high schools based on six factors: college readiness (30%), reading proficiency (20%), math proficiency (20%), reading performance (10%), math performance (10%), and underserved student performance (10%). We believe these lists help you decide the best school that is okay for your child. Meanwhile, take a look at the frequently asked questions about the best schools in Maryland.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Maryland’s education system up to par?

Maryland’s top-rated public school system, world-class universities, and community college network all contribute to the state’s outstanding quality of life. K-12 schools are an excellent place to begin. Universities that have received widespread appreciation.

In Maryland, what grade fails?

To maintain satisfactory academic progress, students must maintain a 2.0 GPA. Unsatisfactory performance is defined as a GPA of less than 2.0.

In Maryland, how long does a typical school day last?

The Maryland school year lasts at least 180 days. From around Labor Day to mid-June, schools are open for ten months. The dates for opening and closing vary per county. Students in elementary and middle school must attend school for at least 6 hours each day, while high school students must go for at least 6.5 hours per day.