Northwestern High School

It is part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system. Two middle schools (Hyattsville Middle School and Nicholas Orem Middle School) feed into Northwestern, as well as twelve elementary schools which are part of the Northwestern Cluster of Schools. Established in 1951 at its current location off Adelphi Road, the original building was demolished in the Summer of 2000, and a new facility now stands in its place. Opening in August 2000, at 386,000 sq ft (35,900 m2) and a capacity of 2,700 students,Northwestern is the second largest high school in the state of Maryland when measured by total square footage, and it became the first of the county's current high schools to be replaced with a new facility.
Northwestern became the school districts' second Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) magnet high school, with the program commencing for the 2013-14 school year.Northwestern has been vying for this program since 2003, but budget woes and other issues had prevented the programs implementation. The CVPA program is a highly selective, rigorous four-year program that offers college prep and professional career prep study in the fine arts, visual arts, and performing arts; acceptance into the program is through a two-stage application process. Northwestern's CVPA program will operate as a "school-within-a-school" model, and be a replication of the program that has been in existence at Suitland High School, since 1986.Northwestern's program, however, will differ from Suitland's as it will be a partial magnet with a limited attendance area, for at least its first year. The program requires an extended-day instruction, where all students enrolled in the CVPA program will take a required "zero period" course, which will have them start school roughly 45-minutes earlier than the general student body.
In December 2009, Northwestern was recognized as a Silver Medal School amongst "America's Best High Schools" by U.S. News & World Report. In 2005, The Washington Post cited Northwestern as being the second highest ranking high school―amongst all district high schools―for students scoring highest on the nationally administered AP tests. Northwestern is accredited by the Commission on Secondary Schools[11] which is a division of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, graduated from Northwestern in 1954. On 5 October 2002, during an official building dedication ceremony attended by Jane and Heather Henson, as well as representatives from The Jim Henson Legacy, Inc., Northwestern was given permission to rename the D/E/F-Wing at Northwestern to the Jim Henson School of Arts, Media and Communications, in honor of the late Jim Henson.