Langley High School and McLean High School landed among the top six public high schools in Virginia in U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings, released Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Langley placed No. 4 statewide and No. 141 nationally, while McLean came in at No. 6 in Virginia and No. 195 among nearly 18,000 ranked schools across the country, according to Daily Voice and Patch Virginia.

Both schools are in McLean.

The two ranked among a dominant showing by Fairfax County Public Schools: six of the state's nine highest-ranked schools belong to FCPS, and Northern Virginia claimed seven of those nine spots overall.

The full Virginia top nine: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (No. 1), Open High School in Richmond (No. 2), Richmond Community High School (No. 3), Langley (No. 4), Meridian High School in Falls Church (No. 5), McLean (No. 6), Woodson High School in Fairfax (No. 7), Oakton High School in Vienna (No. 8) and Marshall High School in Falls Church (No. 9).

How the rankings work

U.S. News evaluated more than 27,000 eligible public high schools and ultimately ranked nearly 18,000 of them, using data from the 2023-24 school year produced in collaboration with the research firm RTI International. Six factors drive the scores: college readiness (30% of the total, based on the share of seniors who took and earned qualifying scores on at least one AP or IB exam), state assessment proficiency, state assessment performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates.

The publication noted that roughly 179 schools fall within each percentile, meaning relatively small changes in overall scores can produce large swings in rank position.

Strong academic year for McLean High

The ranking caps a strong academic stretch for McLean High School under Principal Raven Jones. In July, the school won its first Virginia Army National Guard Cup for Academic Activities from the Virginia High School League, recognizing outstanding performance in scholastic bowl, debate, theatre, robotics, publications and esports.

"The National Guard Cup for Academic Activities is a celebration of our students' curiosity, creativity, and commitment to learning," Jones said on July 13, when the award was announced.

LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News & World Report, told WTOP on Aug. 18 that top Fairfax County schools "continue to perform at a very, very, very high level." He was speaking about Thomas Jefferson specifically, but Langley and McLean's statewide placements reflect the same FCPS pattern.

Langley High School is located at 6520 Georgetown Pike.

The rankings arrive as FCPS students prepare for the start of classes. As we reported Aug. 20, the district launched new home web-filtering controls on school laptops ahead of the first day of school.