Walton, Lassiter crack Georgia's top 12 as Wheeler earns national STEM recognition

Two East Cobb high schools landed in the top dozen public high schools statewide, and a third earned a national distinction for STEM, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best High Schools rankings released Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Walton High School placed No. 11 in Georgia and No. 375 nationally among more than 27,000 public high schools evaluated. Lassiter High School followed at No. 12 in the state and No. 436 nationally.

Wheeler High School, meanwhile, earned a No. 46 national ranking among top STEM high schools, as reported by East Cobb News. Wheeler placed No. 54 in Georgia and No. 1,859 nationally in the overall rankings.

Pope High School rounded out the East Cobb showing at No. 25 in Georgia and No. 823 nationally.

AP participation and demographics

The rankings lean heavily on college readiness. According to U.S. News school profiles, 69% of Walton students and 68% of Lassiter students took at least one Advanced Placement exam. Wheeler's AP participation rate was 40%.

Walton's 12th-grade class numbered 705 students, with 8% classified as economically disadvantaged. Lassiter enrolled 487 seniors, with 14% economically disadvantaged. Wheeler's senior class of 614 had 49% economically disadvantaged.

How the rankings work

U.S. News said in a press release that the rankings weigh six indicators: student achievement on state assessments, graduation rates, college readiness through AP and IB participation and performance, service to underserved populations, curriculum breadth and overall student outcomes. That methodology differs from Georgia Milestones, which measures state-assessment performance alone.

District and state context

Within the Cobb County School District's 17 high schools, Walton, Lassiter and Pope held the top three spots, followed by Kennesaw Mountain, Hillgrove and Harrison. Wheeler ranked seventh in the district.

The gap is real. Sprayberry (No. 89 Georgia, No. 2,991 nationally) and Kell (No. 92 Georgia, No. 3,197 nationally) also appeared in the state's 522-school list.

The top-ranked school in Georgia was the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology, which placed No. 7 nationally. Full school profiles, including detailed breakdowns of test scores and college readiness metrics, are available on the U.S. News website.