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River Hill High School

Clarksville, MD 21029

Phone: (410) 313-7120
Fax: (410) 313-7406
District: Howard County Public Schools

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GreatSchools Rating

public • Grades 9,10,11,12 • 1334 students

River Hill High School, a public school located in Clarksville, MD, serves grades 9-12 in the Howard County Public Schools.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 10 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.

River Hill High School is a public school located in Clarksville, MD. 1334 students attend River Hill High School.

School Ratings

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	9/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program data from Maryland State Department of Education, and using 2025 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program End-Of-Course data from Maryland State Department of Education.
College Readiness	10/10	The College Readiness Rating uses this high school's graduation rates, college entrance exam participation and performance, or AP, IB, or Dual Enrollment participation to determine how well schools are preparing students for success in college and beyond. The College Readiness Rating was created using the following data from the 2021 Civil Rights Data Collection: percentage of students enrolled in IB, AP or Dual Enrollment classes in grades 9-12, using 2025 4-year high school graduation rate data from Maryland State Department of Education, using 2025 Average SAT score data from Maryland State Department of Education, and using 2026 demographic data from Maryland State Department of Education.

Posted: December 12, 2025

I loved River Hill High School my senior year in 2022-2023! Everyone was so nice there and the student life is amazing! I made a lot of wonderful friends there my senior year and would highly reccomend the school to anyone that wants to be happy and have great mental health!

Posted: December 12, 2025

Posted: October 16, 2025

This schools teachers and students deserve credit for maintaining excellence despite the administrations utter incompetence. The leadership, from the principal down to the front office staff, is nothing short of disgraceful. The front office workers exhibit an appalling lack of professionalism and basic courtesy, as if hostility were part of their job description. The vice principals are equally unpleasantcondescending, dismissive, and incapable of treating students or families with even a shred of respect. Its remarkable that such a strong academic institution tolerates an administrative body so consistently unprofessional and corrosive to its own community.

Posted: October 16, 2025

Posted: August 8, 2025

When my family moved from Glenelg to Clarksville in my 10th grade year, I thought I was leaving one problem behind only to find something even worse.

I had spent 9th grade at Glenelg High School with a 4.0 GPA, in honors classes, active in clubs, and genuinely happy. My parents and I, even though we are Caucasian, decided to leave Glenelg because of the racism toward other races. We thought River Hill, with its slightly more diverse student body, would be better. We were wrong.

The racism at River Hill is not always loud, but it is constant and ignored. Administration brushes complaints aside, and students of color know nothing will change.

Worse, River Hill destroyed my mental health. I went from a happy, motivated student to someone now on medication and seeing a psychiatrist. The culture here is aggressively cutthroat. It is not about learning; it is about competing. If you do not have over a 4.0 GPA and endless extracurriculars, you are made to feel like a failure. Teachers do not just allow this. They push it.

I have seen classmates burn out completely, turning to drugs and pills just to cope. I have run into my own peers in my psychiatrists waiting room, and I know many are also in therapy or under treatment. River Hill takes bright, capable kids and grinds them down until they are barely holding on.

The saddest part is that the school hides it all. They sell themselves as the best of the best, but most kids here are just trying to survive, often at the cost of their mental health. Some may thrive in this environment, but for too many, it is toxic.

River Hill does not care about your childs well-being. They care about prestige, rankings, and image. If your child starts to crumble, they will not help.

I would never recommend this school to anyone. I have watched it break too many kids, myself included. Until River Hill values mental health over appearances, they will keep producing burned-out students who should have been given the chance to thrive instead of just survive.

Posted: July 6, 2025

My son had a great experience at River Hill High School. He started off in the band, and although the pandemic made it hard to stay involved, the band director, Mr. Blackman, was very supportive. He later found his passion in the music production class with Mr. McCready, which he loved so much he became a teachers assistant in his final year.

Though academics werent always easy for him, his teachers were encouraging and helped him succeed. He made good friends within a few months and truly enjoyed school lifeincluding the dances and getting to school early just to hang out with friends.

River Hill does focus on high achievers, but that didnt hold him back. Hes now happily pursuing a career in music production and working as an intern. Im so grateful to the school for helping him discover his path. Thank you, River Hill!

Posted: July 6, 2025

Posted: June 18, 2025

River hill is good on achieving good grades and good test scores, if you are willing to sacrifice your mental wellbeing and devote nonstop to studying for tests. It has a nickname of River Pill for a reason. Parents turn the other way as long as their kids achieve perfect scores. The problem is that this breeds unrealistic expectations and a lack of critical thinking skills that they will need later in life to become well rounded healthy adults. Parents should pressure the administration to make changes and address bullying, as other parents have noted. Unfortunately we are living in a society where childrens needs are not prioritized.

Posted: June 18, 2025

Posted: March 27, 2025

It is very top school to learn , but if you want your kids grow up and have better life also after 4 years Hight school good to go for college.

Posted: March 27, 2025

Posted: March 1, 2025

I would not recommend River Hill High School to any parent or student. This school is poorly managed, and the lack of oversight from both teachers and administration is truly alarming. Despite being ranked among the best, it is difficult to understand how it received such high marks given the issues that are rampant here.

First, the bullying problem is out of control. Not only are students bullying one another, but I have also seen instances where teachers engage in behavior that could be classified as bullying themselves. This sets a terrible example for students and creates a hostile environment for those who are simply trying to learn.

Even worse, the administration does absolutely nothing to address the bullying. Complaints and concerns from both students and parents seem to fall on deaf ears. The lack of response to serious behavioral issues makes it clear that the administration either doesnt care or doesnt know how to handle these problems effectively.

On top of this, the students at this school are rude, arrogant, and, in many cases, bullies themselves. It feels as though there is little to no effort to teach respect, kindness, or empathy. The atmosphere is toxic, and as a parent, I deeply regret my decision to send my child here.

I truly believe this school is not what it claims to be. It has failed in every regard when it comes to providing a safe, respectful, and supportive learning environment. I would advise other parents to look elsewhere if they want their child to attend a school that values student well-being and a positive atmosphere for learning.

Posted: March 1, 2025

Posted: December 9, 2024

This is a great school if you want your kids to have 4 years of good experience in both classrooms and sports. My 2 kids said that the River Hill years were more demanding than their colleges. And both kids are enjoying a successful career in the west coast. Of course, if your kids don't feel comfortable in a challenging environment, River Hill is not the right place.

Posted: December 9, 2024

Posted: October 31, 2024

This isn't a troll review. If you love your child please don't send them here. The vast majority of teachers do not care for kids' success. The school is highly ranked due to all of the parents doing everything to push their kids academically. The competitive environment does not befit a public school -- nor does it befit a healthy learning environment. The culture at this school encourages kids to do anything for a good grade or recommendation letters. The teachers know this and in turn know that they can get away with treating the students with as little respect as possible.

Posted: October 31, 2024

Posted: November 17, 2021

Both of my sons graduated from River hill and had a great experience here! River hill prepared them amazingly for a superior college experience! My oldest is now a physician and the other on the deans list at his college. Thank you river hill teachers, and staff !

Posted: November 17, 2021

Posted: April 18, 2021

I like the school and the teacher is good there.

Posted: April 18, 2021

Posted: November 19, 2020

I know many people who come from this school are currently enrolled here to be bullies and mean people. They are very snobby and ignorant. 1 star do not recommend.

Posted: November 19, 2020

Posted: March 10, 2020

they say how they would give 30 minutes to one hour for homework but me and many others end up with 2-3 hours.

Posted: March 10, 2020

the only character traits that are built for students is rude, insensitive, not caring, and a bully.

Posted: March 10, 2020

the administration shows terrible leadership. they do not take charge in bullying and harassment incidents.

Posted: March 10, 2020

river hill high school is the worst school by far to deal with bullying and harassment. i went to that school and was bullied and threatened for months. i reported the incidents to admin and they merely gave them detention or iss. this isnt enough for harassers to learn from their MANY mistakes. one reason why this school doesnt deal with these issues is to keep their "good reputation" , but the only good reputation they have is about the grades, not the environment.they did not remove the bullies or issues. the school basically rewards bad behavior and backstabbing. i suffered from depression, anxiety, and ptsd from this school and was miserable. i am not the only one that this has happened to, many others share the same experience.

Posted: March 10, 2020

The academics were amazing, but they need to work on discipline. Would not recommend.

Posted: December 12, 2019

Exceptional, great school for curricular and extracurricular activities.

Posted: December 12, 2019

Posted: August 11, 2018

Fantastically motivated and kind teachers for the most part, but when they're mean, they're very mean.

Posted: August 11, 2018

The school's pressure cooker environment encourages and practically rewards cheating and backstabbing.

Posted: August 11, 2018

Administrators lie constantly and care very little as to the students,

Posted: August 11, 2018

A mixed bag... many amazing teachers dragged down by pressure from cruel administrators who favor their clique of mean teachers.

Posted: August 11, 2018

Posted: July 28, 2017

So far my experience at river hill is very negative. There is a lot of bullying at this school. There is way too much pressure to be perfect and take all AP classes.

Posted: July 7, 2017

It depends on the teacher how much homework you receive, but I have never been too overwhelmed.

Posted: July 7, 2017

I have had teachers bully me, and grade me and my peers unfairly. They just want to be in control and have authority of something, rather than care for their students.

Posted: July 7, 2017

My principle would not even make eye contact with me when talking. She did not help me when I came to her for help. I wanted to start a club and instead she started talking about the weather, then within 5 minutes told me to go back to class.

Posted: July 7, 2017

Posted: June 13, 2016

Great and/or good schools teach all students regardless of the student's ability. Not this school. Too many teachers don't teach. If your student excels everything will be fine. If not and just average and needs help, might not be the right school. The teachers who don't want to help push peer tutoring. School takes credit for all those who go on to prestigious colleges. Those students were going on to prestigious colleges whether attending this school or not.

Posted: June 24, 2014

I attended River Hill for all 4 years of high school. The teachers and curriculum were outstanding. To this day I still keep in touch with a select few of my teachers and consider them my mentors. River Hill was constantly on the cutting edge of employing new technologies into the classroom. Through the numerous extra-curricular activities offered at River Hill I involved myself with the Academy of Finance, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honors Society, and many other organizations. These programs set me up to obtain my college degree in economics and successfully create and manage 6 businesses. I am currently living within Howard County and hope to move back into River Hill's district by the time that my son reaches high school. I Highly recommend this high school!

Posted: October 10, 2013

We are grateful for the RHHS teachers. Our daughter went to one of the most prestige college and found out that she was totally prepared for it. Clarksville is the best place to raise a family with great schools. It is perfect!

Posted: July 9, 2013

I just finished freshman year and i can say some of the things people have been saying are not true. First in athletics all you have to do is actually work at the sport as much as possible. the previous summer i went to so many camps for cross country and lacrosse including rhhs boosters and when i tried out i made both teams. It was my first year in XC and my fourth in lacrosse and i did fine. Also in academics you have to realize that there will be alot of homework and whining about it wont change anything. I took biology GT algebra II and honors english and history and finished the year with a 3.6 along with sports because I applied everything i had to do it.

Posted: July 6, 2013

I been at rhhs since freshman , now I am a senior and I will be moving next year. Rhhs is only a good school from the outside , but inside its a whole different story. They are NOT inclusive to everyone. sports teams practically require you to be an Olympic athlete , well at least for the boys teams. There is are lots of mice and the building is dirty. I've have seen people being bullied. I have lots of friends , but I don't see them that often because everyone is always studying for a test or exam. Rhhs spends all the money on their precious ap and honors students. Nobody Is RITCH here ! DO NOT MOVE IN THE AREA JUST SO YOUR KID CAN GO HERE !!! River hill is not The Harvard of public schools . They pride themselves in being NO.1 in the state but now they are like number 20 ! If you can afford it send your kid to another Howard county school or a catholic school they are both better!

Posted: June 6, 2013

This is the end of my freshman year. I have finals next week and honestly some classes i do not feel ready for. I have had teachers who are sexist against the boys in my class. I have gotten held accountable for assignments that my teachers have lost. The faculty is only worried about the stats. Once you actually attend River Hill its not very fun. I play lacrosse here and our varsity head coach is horrible. During school we are held to very very very high expectations yet we only get about and hour per week to relax. I play multiple travel sports and i still go home and have an average of 8 hours of homework. I end up going to bed around 2 am or later. Only a select few teachers are good. My biology gt teacher never lets me have an opinion. At river hill i expected to have a fun time. i am willing to work hard but there are limits to how teachers treat students. RIver Hill is a paradise from the outside but once you actually attend it, it is horrible. I have made friends but i rarely get to talk to them. I am popular too. We dont get enough time to relax and talk to friend and make our time enjoyable.

Posted: February 12, 2013

This school is good because the students are smart. It is the students' credit not the school's. We are new to this school and learning that the administrators or staff have no contact with the family. No news letter, emails. I signed up to volunteer but I don't get any call for anything. School encourage extracurricular activities and has a long list of activities on the web site but in reality very few of them are functional. Staff don't show up or just cancel meetings etc. Seems to me the students are working hard but the staff including the administration really do not do much.

Posted: November 13, 2012

I know I am unfairly basing this on several bad experiences with only a handful of teachers but it is really a shame that the administration at this school chooses to do nothing about a long standing problem. There are tenured teachers that basically choose to act in a unprofessional manner and bully the kids in her classes as if he/she is on some power trip. Many kids and parents complained but the administration chooses to do nothing because he/she is tenured. Teachers at this school are too often misplacing kids' assignments. If kids are accountable for this then how come teachers are not held to the same standard. I so many more issues that I can talk post but there is a limit to what I can post. I know this is a National Blue Ribbon School but I can tell you it's not because of the teachers. I see why parents with kids in this school district send their kids to private school. I am so underwhelmed with the teachers here.

Reviews provided by GreatSchools^™

#	Name	Type	City	State	Distance
1	Maple Lawn	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fulton	MD	4.5 mi
2	Norwood	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Olney	MD	8.1 mi
3	The Greens at Locust Chapel	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Ellicott City	MD	8.7 mi
4	Landing	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Elkridge	MD	9.7 mi
5	Iverly	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Silver Spring	MD	10.9 mi
6	Midway Common	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fort Meade	MD	11.3 mi
7	The Provinces	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Severn	MD	12.1 mi
8	DuMont Oaks	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Silver Spring	MD	12.6 mi
9	Lake Village Town Homes	Apartment Complex	Severn	MD	12.9 mi
10	Hillandale	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Silver Spring	MD	13.2 mi
11	Forest Knolls	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Silver Spring	MD	13.6 mi
12	White Flint	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Rockville	MD	15.5 mi
13	Harvest Run	Condominium/Townhouse	Odenton	MD	15.7 mi
14	Old Farm	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Rockville	MD	15.9 mi
15	Shelter Cove Luxury Apartments	Apartment Complex	Odenton	MD	16 mi
16	Piney Orchard at Pinedale Courts	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Odenton	MD	16.3 mi
17	Takoma Park	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Takoma Park	MD	16.4 mi
18	Lakelands	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Gaithersburg	MD	17.5 mi

#	Name	City	State	Distance
1	Hammond Hills	Laurel	MD	5.3 mi
2	Laurel	Laurel	MD	8.9 mi
3	White Oak	Silver Spring	MD	13.2 mi
4	Severn	Severn	MD	15 mi
5	Silver Spring	Silver Spring	MD	16.3 mi
6	Baltimore	Baltimore	MD	17.4 mi
7	Kentlands	Gaithersburg	MD	18.1 mi

Base	Distance
Fort Meade NSA	13.3 mi.
Walter Reed Medical Center	17.1 mi.
Coast Guard Curtis Bay	19.2 mi.
Marine Barracks Washington	23.4 mi.
Washington Navy Yard	23.8 mi.
Fort McNair	24.3 mi.
Fort Myer	24.4 mi.
Coast Guard Headquarters DC	24.6 mi.
Pentagon	24.7 mi.
Henderson Hall	25.1 mi.
Bolling AFB Joint Base Anacostia	26.3 mi.
Andrews AFB	28.3 mi.
Defense Health Headquarters Falls Church	28.3 mi.
Mark Center Alexandria	28.4 mi.
US Naval Academy	28.6 mi.
Annapolis Naval Station	29.1 mi.
Fort Detrick	30.9 mi.
NRO Chantilly	36.2 mi.
Fort Belvoir	36.7 mi.
Indian Head Naval Base	45.2 mi.
Aberdeen Proving Ground	46.2 mi.

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River Hill High School

Clarksville, MD 21029

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