JUST HOW IMPORTANT IS
education to residents in our area? The short
answer: very.
More than half of the adult residents
of Montgomery County have attained a
bachelor’s degree—or higher—and that
percentage goes way up in many of the towns
in our community. Approximately 80 percent
of Bethesda’s residents ages 25 or older
have bachelor’s degrees, and 54 percent
have graduate or professional degrees. In
2016, Bethesda topped Nerd Wallet’s list of
the “most educated places in America,” and
Potomac was No. 4.
When it comes to their children’s
education, local parents want nothing but the
best. As a result, the county’s public school
system, the largest in Maryland and the 17th
biggest in the country, boasts some of the
best schools in the nation. It has 37 National
Blue Ribbon schools, a distinction bestowed
by the U.S. Department of Education on
high-performing or high-improving schools, an
89. 4 percent graduation rate and a nearly 66
percent Advanced Placement participation
rate for the Class of 2015.
Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda
and Potomac’s Winston Churchill ranked
among the top 100 high schools in U.S.
News & World Report’s 2016 national
rankings, and seven of Maryland’s top 10
high schools are in the county, according to
the same rankings. Montgomery County’s
204 public schools serve more than
159,000 students from 157 countries.
The school system offers 133 elementary
schools, 39 middle schools and 25 high
schools.
And for families choosing to go the
independent school route, the Bethesda area
has some of the ;nest private schools in the
country.
According to the Private School Review
website, there are 181 private schools in
the county, serving 35,250 students. And
there are many others in Washington, D.C.,
and Northern Virginia that Bethesda-area
students attend.
P
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BY
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schools
Students head to
class at Bannockburn
Elementary School
in Bethesda.
