Summary:
Zip code 22043 is home to two public high schools serving grades 9–12 in the Falls Church, Virginia area: Marshall High and Meridian High School. The schools sit in different districts — Marshall in Fairfax County Public Schools and Meridian in Falls Church City Public Schools — and they offer very different educational profiles in scale, performance, and resources.
Meridian High School is the clear standout in the zip code. It holds a 5-star rating, ranks 14th among Virginia high schools for 2025–2026, and posts a near-perfect 99.5% graduation rate with just a 0.4% dropout rate. Its SOL proficiency is strong across math, reading, biology, and chemistry, and it spends the most per student at $17,133. By comparison, Marshall High is a much larger school with roughly 2,200 students and a 3-star rating. Marshall's state ranking has slipped from the 84th to the 53rd percentile over three years, though its 95.2% graduation rate still beats the district and state averages. About one in four Marshall students is economically disadvantaged, compared to roughly one in seven at Meridian.
Marshall's biggest concern is chronic absenteeism, at 17.2% versus 11.9% for its district and 14.8% statewide. Meridian's absenteeism rate is 12.1%. Lower poverty, higher per-pupil spending, and a top-ranked district help explain Meridian's consistently elite results. Marshall still has strong subject-area showings and outperforms its own district in chemistry, biology, Algebra II, and VA & US History, but its upper-grade test results and attendance point to real challenges. For parents, Meridian High School offers a smaller, well-resourced, elite academic environment, while Marshall High serves a larger and more diverse student body with solid graduation outcomes but clear areas for improvement.
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