Walls Reaches Number 5 in National Rankings
School Without Walls HS was officially announced the #5 high school out of 27,000 public, charter, and magnet high schools in the nation on U.S News & World Report 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings. Rankings are based on many factors: college readiness (30%), college curriculum breadth (the percentage of students who took AP/IB exams compared to the percentage of students who performed well on those exams) (10%), state assessment proficiency and performance (40%), underserved student performance (10%), and graduation rate (10%).
SWW has outstanding numbers when it comes to these factors. The AP Participation rate is 100%, Walls was ranked 96.2/100 on the CRI (college readiness index), the school has a 100% percentile score in DC CAPE, and SWW placed in the 95.4 national percentile when it comes to college-level exams (AP).
But what changed? How did Walls go from holding the 69th spot to the 5th? Humanities teacher Ms. Briggs, who has been working at Walls since 1997, explained that when she first started working here, “there were only approximately 300 students, so our school has practically doubled in size.” Adding on to that, “Our increase in AP courses has really changed our ability to compete with other schools nationally…Back in the day, there would be one AP Lang class; it would be a competition to get into it. That’s not the case anymore. Anyone who wants to take an AP course can take an AP course. That has driven our curriculum and our course load.” The increase in rigorous courses has helped Walls become a relevant and competitive school on a national level.
Student Zulay Portillo (‘28) was “very surprised and proud of our school, knowing all our hard work has paid off.” Freshman year, she “didn’t have a very good understanding of how to manage my work in school.” Being in such a rigorous and “college-preparation focused school”, her “understanding and perspective on keeping work in order had improved and impacted my work in a positive way for my life.” SWW has helped her fulfill her goals, and she would “absolutely consider us a #5 worthy school, with the amount of work that students put into it.”
Both Emi Cabrera-Gomez (‘29) and Penny Ventura (‘29) had similar responses to the school's rise in the rankings, with Emi stating, “I would definitely consider us a number 5 worthy school, because of our teachers, learning environments, and test scores.” Similarly, Penny stated, “We have great teachers, and a great student body, which I think has led us to have this rise in the rankings.” There is pride throughout the student body, and most students believe that the student body, staff, and teachers are the reason Walls has done so well.
Congratulations to the SWW student body, teachers, and staff who have all contributed to this remarkable achievement. Without your hard work, School Without Walls would not be where it is now.
