1
What tradition at Winston Churchill High should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
2,185
High
DISTRICT 2,003 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240048000956
Winston Churchill High
11300 Gainsborough Rd, Potomac, MD 20854 · (240) 740-5400 · Montgomery County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL2,185 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 75% of Maryland public high schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Maryland public high schools
Student : Teacher
18.3:1
120 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.8:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
11%
239 students
DISTRICT 40% · STATE 54%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 523 | 24% |
| Grade 10 | 552 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 574 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 536 | 25% |
Student demographics
71%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · STATE 73% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
MCAP 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 3-4)English Language Arts
84.6%
MD avg 50.6% . +1.6pp since 2023
Math
27.2%
MD avg 34.8% . +6.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 85 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 27 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are up about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 7 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 84.6% | 27.2% |
| 2023-24 | 83.0% | 20.5% |
% Proficient (Levels 3-4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: MCAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of MD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
53.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
67.7%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 68% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Winston Churchill High
Winston Churchill High's state test result (53.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winston Churchill High this school | 2,185 | 10.9% | 53.8% |
| Thomas S. Wootton High Rockville | 1,870 | 13.4% | 48.5% |
| Mount Hebron High Ellicott City | 1,455 | 19.2% | 51.8% |
| Poolesville High Poolesville | 1,351 | 12.1% | 53.8% |
| Howard High Ellicott City | 1,493 | 20.2% | 47.5% |
| Centennial High Ellicott City | 1,377 | 18.5% | 53.6% |
Matched among Maryland high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Winston Churchill High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Montgomery County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 53.8% | #17 of 203 | #2 of 25 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 27.2% | #18 of 206 ▲ 19 | #1 of 25 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 84.6% | #22 of 206 ▼ 6 | #4 of 25 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 2,185 | #19 of 234 | #10 of 26 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.3:1 | #175 of 210 | #23 of 25 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.6% | #37 of 211 | #12 of 25 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 10.9% | #207 of 212 | #24 of 25 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +2.9% | #112 of 131 | #15 of 18 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
2,185
-60 (-3%) vs 2020
+45% since 1990-91, when it was 1,511
Student : Teacher
18.3:1
was 17.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 2,185 | 119.5 | 18.3:1 | 11% (239) |
| 2023-24 | 2,203 | 123.7 | 17.8:1 | 11% (232) |
| 2022-23 | 2,234 | 120.9 | 18.5:1 | 10% (232) |
| 2020-21 | 2,245 | 128 | 17.5:1 | 5% (114) |
| 2017-18 | 2,123 | 118.9 | 17.9:1 | 4% (79) |
| 2015-16 | 2,093 | 118 | 17.7:1 | 4% (83) |
| 2010-11 | 2,113 | 111 | 19.0:1 | 4% (82) |
| 2000-01 | 1,773 | 99 | 17.9:1 | 1% (23) |
| 1990-91 | 1,511 | 76 | 19.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Winston Churchill High.
Since 2017-18: students up 3% (2,123 to 2,185); teachers up 1% (118.9 to 119.5).
About Winston Churchill High
At 11300 Gainsborough Rd in Potomac, Maryland, Winston Churchill High operates as a high-enrollment high school. Students in grades 9 through 12 attend, and enrollment is 2,185 students. The typical figure for high schools in Maryland is about 1,185 students.
District-wide, Montgomery County Public Schools has 208 schools and 159,181 students.
The most common group at Winston Churchill High is White students, at 40%. After that, the student body is 33% Asian, 11% Black, 9% Hispanic, and 7% multiracial. That is close to the 42% White share among all Montgomery County residents. The school's diversity index is 71%, meaning two students picked at random have a 71% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
A ratio of 18.3:1 comes from the school's 119.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is 3.0 students per teacher above the 15.3:1 average for high schools in Maryland. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 11% in 2024-25. That is 29 points below the 40% average for public schools in Montgomery County.
allk12 grades Winston Churchill High an A-. The grade compares the school only with Maryland public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
Winston Churchill High falls short of its prediction by 13.9 points. The model expects 67.7% for a school with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Maryland; the school's rate is 53.8%.
According to the American Community Survey, in Montgomery County, the median household income is $132,450, 61% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 5% of people live in poverty. Winston Churchill High is one of 211 public schools in the county.
Herbert Hoover Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. The five-mile area around Winston Churchill High holds at least 8 other public schools. Local comparison: Winston Churchill High ranks 9th of 9 nearby schools, at 53.8% versus a 77.6% average.
Winston Churchill High is coded as Suburb: Large in federal locale data.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 60 fewer students in 2024-25.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Winston Churchill High. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Montgomery County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,065,949
Census ACS
Median income
$132,450
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
61%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
211
159,181 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Montgomery County Public Schools
- Montgomery Blair HighHigh · 3,266 students
- Walter Johnson HighHigh · 3,016 students
- Wheaton HighHigh · 2,794 students
- Gaithersburg HighHigh · 2,441 students
- Seneca Valley HighHigh · 2,409 students
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase HighHigh · 2,377 students
Other schools in Potomac
- Cabin John MiddleMiddle · 983 students
- Herbert Hoover MiddleMiddle · 930 students
- Bells Mill ElementaryElementary · 570 students
- Beverly Farms ElementaryElementary · 526 students
- Potomac ElementaryElementary · 475 students
- Wayside ElementaryElementary · 465 students
Nearby schools
- Herbert Hoover Middle0.3 mi · 930
- Beverly Farms Elementary0.6 mi · 526
- Bells Mill Elementary0.8 mi · 570
- Cabin John Middle0.9 mi · 983
- Ritchie Park Elementary1.3 mi · 342
- Cold Spring Elementary1.3 mi · 362
Frequently asked questions
About Winston Churchill HighHow many students attend Winston Churchill High?
Winston Churchill High enrolls approximately 2,185 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Winston Churchill High serve?
Winston Churchill High serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Winston Churchill High?
Approximately 18.3:1 students per teacher at Winston Churchill High.
How diverse is Winston Churchill High?
Winston Churchill High reports a student body of 40% White, 9% Hispanic, 11% Black, 33% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Winston Churchill High public or private?
Winston Churchill High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Montgomery County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.