by Evan Schwartz ’13

Through school-wide announcements and at class assemblies, the school’s administration has been proudly boasting how Sherwood has received the honor of joining the elite list of Newsweek magazine’s Top 500 public high schools of 2010.

This past June, Newsweek published its annual list of America’s top ranking public high schools, drawing from Poway High School in San Diego, California, to Poolesville High School in Poolesville, Maryland. For the first time, Sherwood has joined the exclusive ranks of the top 500.

Ranking at 468th overall, Sherwood was one of the eight MCPS high schools, and one of 19 Maryland schools, to make the top 500.

The list is confusing to follow, due to the fact that all of the schools are ranked by a series of calculations and percentages based on the categories “On-time graduation rate,” “Percent of graduates to enter directly into college,” “AP/IB tests per graduate, and score,” and “Average SAT and/or ACT score.”

Sherwood’s spot on the list was secured by such statistics as a 12.9-percent student-teacher ratio, 95-percent graduation rate, 79-percent college-bound seniors, and an average SAT score of 1616 for the 2009-2010 school year.