CRISFIELD — Crisfield High School was again ranked in the top 25% of schools in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report.

“This is three years in a row of gold status,” wrote Principal Jeff Hale in an email. “Not bad for a school that only six years ago had never been on the report!”

Crisfield was number 4,659 out of 19,815 traditional public high schools across the country — and 89th among the 212 high school reviewed in Maryland. While that was farther back than 2020 when CHS was 75th it was well ahead of James M. Bennett (141), Parkside (145), Washington (146) and Wicomico (150).

The top two schools in the tri- county area were Stephen Decatur (46) and Snow Hill (47), with Mardela taking third place (68) and Pocomoke fourth (83).

Mr. Hale commended the staff for this “awesome achievement” which included a time when teaching was both online and in-person. “We outranked all of Wicomico with the exception of Mardela,” he added, and had a “higher math proficiency than Pocomoke High School.”

Schools in the report are ranked by college readiness through a review of seniors who take and earn qualifying scores on Advanced Placement exams; math and reading proficiency based on state assessments weighted to include scores by minority students and those from low-income households; scores on state assessments by minority and low-income households; and graduation rates, with CHS having 90% of its students earning a diploma.

Mr. Hale pointed out that CHS ranks 14th in the state with its math and reading performance based on the school’s socio- economic status and demographics.

“I think this is huge because it shows we are performing even in the

most difficult situations,” he said. “With the challenges we have been facing it’s nice to see some good news. We have an amazing staff!”

Included in the Salisbury Metro area rankings was Sussex Tech which was the only regional school that was also ahead of CHS.