Five Prince William Schools in US News & World Report rankings

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which includes Prince William County Public School students, was ranked sixth in the nation and first in Virginia and Patriot and Osbourn Park placed 496th and 654th out of more than 22,000 public schools evaluated in a newly published 2017 U.S. News & World Report annual assessment of how well high schools prepare students for college and careers.

Patriot earned a gold medal—a PWCS first—for 2014-15 results that rank it among the top two percent of public high school nationwide. Osbourn Park, Battlefield, and Woodbridge earned silver medals, for scores in the top 10 percent nationwide. 

Among the 324 Virginia schools earning national gold or silver medals, Patriot ranks 15th, Osbourn Park 19th, Battlefield 25th, and Woodbridge 36th.

Hylton High School had similar test, graduation, and college readiness scores as Woodbridge High School. It slipped off this year’s ranking because the U.S. News formula raises the threshold for consideration as schools’ percentage of economically disadvantaged declines. The 2017 rankings only rely on Advanced Placement (AP) exams for their college readiness measures, which inaccurately reflect the “college readiness” results of Potomac, Brentsville, Gar-Field, Stonewall Jackson and other high schools like them that use Cambridge and IB exams in place of the AP tests.       

“We are very proud of this year’s rankings, with Patriot’s gold and three silver medal winners,” said PWCS Superintendent Steve Walts. “When you look at all the facts, it’s clear that all our high schools are Providing A World-Class Education.”