Langley, McLean Among Top 5 High Schools in Virginia, U.S. News & World Report Says

Fairfax County is home to the top five public high schools in Virginia, according to the U.S. News and World Report’s 2013 Best High Schools rankings.

U.S. News generated the rankings through a partnership with American Institutes for Research, looking at students’ performance on standardized tests and how successfully schools educated black, Hispanic and low-income students.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology was once again ranked the top school in Virginia. It was ranked No. 4 of all schools nationally, down from its No. 2 post in 2012.

Replacing TJ at No. 2 was BASIS Tucson in Arizona, which jumped from sixth in 2012.

• See: Thomas Jefferson High School Acceptance Rate at 15.3 Percent for Class of 2017

Where McLean Schools Rank

Langley, James Madison, McLean and W.T. Woodson rounded out the rest of Virginia’s top five high schools.

Langley and McLean High Schools, both in McLean, were ranked second and fourth in Virginia respectively. Nationally, Langley was ranked No. 84 and McLean was ranked No. 107.

In 2012, Langley was ranked sixth in Virginia and McLean was ranked fourth. Nationally, Langley ranked 98th and McLean ranked 85th.

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James Madison was third in Virginia and 101st nationally in 2013 —  both improvements over its 2012 rankings of No. 8. and No. 129 in the state and country, respectively. 

Woodson High School ranked fifth in Virginia and 116th in the nation in 2013. It too has risen from 2012, when it was ranked seventh in the state and 112th in the nation.

According to the list, the School for the Talented and Gifted in the Dallas Independent School District held onto the title of top high school in the nation.

Click here for more information on U.S. News and World Report’s 2013 Best High School rankings.

U.S. News' list is just one of the many Fairfax schools make each year. Earlier this month, a number of area schools earned a national ranking on the Washington Post Challenge Index.

Newsweek also releases a list of best high schools each year, usually in May.

How much stock do you put into national rankings? How do you measure a good school? Tell us in the comments.