School Without Walls High School in Foggy Bottom jumped 64 spots in a single year to land at No. 5 in the U.S. News & World Report 2026-2027 Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday, Aug. 18. The small DCPS magnet school ranked No. 69 in the 2025-2026 edition.

That is the largest climb among the top 10.

The leap puts the 606-student school ahead of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, which came in at No. 6. School Without Walls also holds the top spot among all D.C. high schools and in the Washington metro area.

U.S. News evaluated roughly 27,000 public high schools nationwide, ranking nearly 18,000. The methodology uses 2023-2024 school-year data and weighs college readiness, state assessment proficiency, graduation rates and underserved student performance, among other factors.

Every senior at School Without Walls takes at least one Advanced Placement course. The AP participation rate is 100%, and in 2024, 91% of students who sat for an AP exam scored 3 or higher.

The school's partnership with George Washington University sets it apart. Through the GW Early College Program, sophomores can apply to earn an Associate of Arts degree from GWU alongside their high school diploma. Students also complete a required 60-hour internship before graduation, part of the school's founding philosophy of using the city itself as a classroom.

DCPS interim chancellor Dr. Kim Jackson credited long-term leadership for the surge. "The school leader has been there for 40 years, so consistency does make a difference," Jackson told WUSA9. Jackson said she hopes interim principal Dr. Kimbria Little, who took over for the 2026-2027 school year, will continue that momentum.

The ranking arrives six days before DCPS students return to class on Monday, Aug. 24. Christopher O.J. Alberts, the school's Director of Performing Arts and the 2026 DC Teacher of the Year, captured the school's ethos at a surprise celebration in October 2025 when he was named to that honor: "I believe learning should never be confined to the four walls of a classroom."

Families interested in School Without Walls can find lottery and enrollment information through My School DC. The school offers 190 ninth-grade seats through the lottery each year; the waitlist on results day had 123 names.