North Point High School in Waldorf holds the top spot among Charles County’s eight high schools in U.S. News & World Report’s current Best High Schools rankings, placing 90th within Maryland. The school posts a graduation rate of 95% or higher, an Advanced Placement participation rate of 39%, and is ranked #4,455 nationally. About 36% of North Point’s roughly 1,960 students are classified as economically disadvantaged.
La Plata High School ranks second in the county and 105th statewide, with a 94% graduation rate and an enrollment of 1,217 students. Notably, La Plata posts the district’s highest College Readiness Index, at 38.8 — well above North Point’s 26.6, despite ranking lower overall. U.S. News calculates that index from a combination of AP and IB exam participation rates and how many students pass at least one such exam, which can diverge from a school’s overall rank if a smaller student body has proportionally higher exam engagement.
Maurice J. McDonough High School in Pomfret ranks third in the county and 144th in Maryland, with a 91% graduation rate, a College Readiness Index of 17.6, and 1,163 students enrolled.
Westlake High School in Waldorf ranks fourth in the county and 161st statewide, with an 88% graduation rate, a College Readiness Index of 13.4, and 1,216 students enrolled.
Henry E. Lackey High School in Indian Head ranks fifth in the county and 167th in Maryland, matching Westlake’s 88% graduation rate, with a College Readiness Index of 17.9 and 1,033 students enrolled.
St. Charles High School in Waldorf ranks sixth in the county and 168th statewide, with an 89% graduation rate and a College Readiness Index of 15.1. At 1,617 students, it’s the district’s largest ranked high school.
Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf ranks seventh in the county, landing in a tied band of 186th–211th in Maryland, with an 84% graduation rate, a College Readiness Index of 11.4, and 1,230 students enrolled.
Robert D. Stethem Educational Center in Pomfret, the district’s eighth high school, remains unranked by U.S. News; it functions as the district’s alternative and career-technical education center rather than a comprehensive high school.
A separate, independently sourced ranking from SchoolDigger corroborates North Point and La Plata as the county’s top two performers, though it places Charles County Public Schools 21st among Maryland’s 25 school districts overall — a district-wide comparison outside the scope of U.S. News’ individual school rankings.
Charles County Public Schools serves roughly 27,800 students district-wide across all grade levels, with a district-wide minority enrollment near 80% and about 34% of students classified as economically disadvantaged, according to U.S. News’ separate district profile. The district is led by Superintendent Dr. Maria Navarro.
Neither Charles County Public Schools nor its school board had issued a public statement on this year’s high school rankings as of this writing.
