In 2020, Evanston Township High School was one of 11 high schools in Illinois to receive national recognition as a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished School for providing transformative learning opportunities through the PLTW Engineer Program. The Distinguished School recognition honors schools, PreKindergarten-12th grade, committed to increasing student access, engagement, and achievement in their programs.

To be eligible for the Distinguished School designation, ETHS District 202 met the following criteria during the 2019-20 school year:

• Offered at least three PLTW courses;
• Had 25 percent of students or more participate in PLTW courses, or of those who participated in PLTW, at least 33 percent took two or more PLTW courses;
• Had 95 percent of students take the End-of-Course Assessments;
• Had strategies and procedures in place that support reasonably proportional representation with regard to race, ethnicity, poverty, and gender.