Each year, the U.S. News and World Report gathers data on all high schools in the United States for the Best U.S. High Schools report. Their most recent release, the 2023-2024 Best U.S. High Schools, ranked nearly 25,000 schools across the U.S. based on six areas of evaluation and all of Walton County’s traditional high schools made the list. The Walton County School District’s high schools rank among the top 16% of all high schools in the United States.
The U.S News and World Report calculates its rankings based on six key areas of achievement: College Readiness, State Assessment Proficiency, State Assessment Performance, Underserved Student Performance, College Curriculum Breadth, and Graduation Rate. These areas are individually weighted, with College Readiness and State Assessment Proficiency comprising 50% of the overall score. These scores indicate that Walton County students are highly prepared to take the next step of their journey in life when they graduate.
This achievement illustrates what has become known as “The Walton County Way” which can be summarized as E.P.I.C. – Excellence, Professionalism, Innovation, and Collaboration. Superintendent A. Russell Hughes had this to say after the release of the rankings, “I could not be more proud of the continued hard work, dedication, resulting success of our students, parents, staff, and our community. These rankings are a great indicator of the EPIC work being done for students and by students in Walton County. Once again, congratulations to all for winning one!”