by Dylan Craig ’16

Washington Post columnist Jay Matthews recently ranked the 50 best high schools in the DC area as part of his annual Challenge Index. Sherwood was ranked at 44, with an average SAT score (for the class of 2012) of 1622 and a challenge rating of 3.406. A challenge rating is calculated by the number of AP exams taken divided by the number of graduated seniors. Matthews asserts that the rating is an effective way to assess the level of rigor at schools.

MCPS has 11 schools on the list; Poolesville is the highest at third. Other MCPS schools included are Richard Montgomery, ranked 5th, Churchill, ranked 13th, and Wootton, ranked 14th. Also included in the index was a Meal Subsidy Percentage, the percentage of students eligible for Government Meal Subsides, used as a benchmark for poverty. Sherwood has a Meals Subsidy Percentage of 14 percent, which ranks roughly in the middle of MCPS. Churchill only has a Meals Subsidy Percentage of 5 percent, while Rockville, ranked 37th on the list, has a Meals Subsidy Percentage of 32 percent.