While the Towson High music department flourishes, its success is part of a school earning high grades all around for its ability to prepare graduates for college.
According to U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools list of the nation's top public high schools, Towson and Eastern Technical are the only Baltimore County schools worthy of gold medal status under the magazine's ranking system.
"Our high schools have earned a permanent spot on many of the annual 'best' lists every year, and we can be proud of the job our students and educators do to achieve these recognitions year in and year out," said Dallas Dance, Baltimore County schools superintendent. "We can learn a lot from our recognized schools as we work each day to replicate student success wherever we find it to all of our schools and all of our classrooms."
Towson was rated the 273rd best high school out of 19,400 public high schools in the U.S.
Partnering with the American Institutes for Research, U.S. News & World Report analyzed state reading and math assessment scores, demographic information, college-readiness measurements, Advance Placement tests and other factors for the evaluation process.
Of the 42 schools to qualify from a list of 244 high schools in Maryland, several other Baltimore County high schools were also chosen for their academic prowess.
Eastern Technical High School barely edged Towson for seventh place in the state (270th nationally), and was the only other county school to earn a gold medal — a designation reserved for the top 500 nationally ranked schools boasting a high degree of student college readiness.
Western School of Technology and Environmental Science, Loch Raven High School, and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts were awarded silver medals for high performing schools with a lower degree of student college readiness.
Nelson Coffin