High Schools in Worthington City

Worthington City has two high schools serving grades 9–12 — Thomas Worthington High School (1,712 students) and Worthington Kilbourne High School (1,623 students) — together enrolling 3,335 students in a district rated 4 stars and ranked 169th of 773 Ohio districts (78th percentile).

Both schools earn 4 stars in every reported year, so the star rating alone doesn't separate them. The finer detail does: Thomas Worthington ranks higher, placing 118th of 795 Ohio high schools in 2025–26 (85th percentile) versus Kilbourne's 178th of 795 (78th percentile), and it outperformed Kilbourne in 6 of 7 End-of-Course subjects. Thomas's strongest results were American History at 91.4%, Biology at 89.2%, and American Government at 85.0% proficient, with clear math advantages in Integrated Math I (61.1% vs. 50.0%) and Algebra I (62.9% vs. 55.2%). Kilbourne's standout is English II at 84.5% proficient, above Thomas's 81.7% and far above the state's 62.7%, plus a slightly higher graduation rate of 95.5% versus Thomas's 94.7%. Kilbourne's Algebra I score of 55.2% falls below the state's 61.6%, and its Integrated Math I dropped 10.4 percentage points year over year — notable weak spots in an otherwise strong district. Both schools sit well above state averages in nearly every subject.

Two shared concerns stand out for families. Chronic absenteeism is roughly 25% at each school — 24.9% at Thomas and 25.6% at Kilbourne — far above the district's 15.2%, meaning about one in four students is chronically absent even as graduation rates stay near 95%. Math is also the relative weak point at both schools. On context, Kilbourne has higher free/reduced-price lunch participation (32.22% vs. 27.04%) and slightly higher per-student spending ($12,967 vs. $12,467, from 2018–19), though these figures don't simply explain the academic differences. Rank trends show Thomas pulling ahead: the two were nearly tied in 2023–24 (141st and 139th of 864) before Thomas moved clearly ahead in the last two reported years.