A quick look at the 2024 Maryland School Report Card


The 2024 Maryland School Report Card was released yesterday, Dec. 3, by the Maryland State Department of Education. Unless otherwise specified, all numbers below are from this latest Report Card--which, remember, counts only public schools, which most kids attend and all taxpayers support.

One useful data point in the report is district-by-district enrollment. As one drives west toward West Virginia, Maryland's westernmost four counties steadily decrease in enrollment as they do in population, according to 2023 U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

  • Frederick: population 293,391; enrollment 47,681.
  • Washington: population 155,813; enrollment 22,549.
  • Allegany: population 67,273; enrollment 8,205.
  • Garrett: population 28,423; enrollment 3,455.

According to the announcement that accompanied the Report Card, "41 percent of schools earned the top two ratings of four or five stars, and 83 percent received three or more stars."

Therefore, though the announcement doesn't quite say so, 17 percent of schools must have earned the bottom two ratings of one or two stars. (100-83=17.)

Using the Report Card search engine created by the nonprofit Baltimore Banner turns up two Allegany County schools with two-star ratings, both in Cumberland: South Penn Elementary and Washington Middle, only a mile apart in the area north of Industrial Boulevard. 

The only other two-star school in Western Maryland is in Washington County: Western Heights Middle in Hagerstown.

No school in Garrett or Frederick counties has a two-star rating, and no Western Maryland school has a one-star rating. The Report Card lists 17 one-star schools elsewhere, including six high schools, nine middle schools and two elementary schools.

As Baltimore City has more of everything, it logically has more one-star schools, too--six of the 17--but the others are spread among Anne Arundel (with four), Howard (with two) and Baltimore, Harford, Montgomery, Somerset and Wicomico counties (one each). One-star schools, in other words, are rural and suburban phenomena as well as urban ones.

On the other end of the Report Card, Western Maryland has many schools in the top two ratings, four or five stars. Here's the breakdown by county.

Allegany (10 four-star schools, though no five-star ones):

  • Beall Elementary
  • Bel Air Elementary
  • Cash Valley Elementary
  • Cresaptown Elementary
  • Flintstone Elementary
  • Frost Elementary
  • Mount Savage Elementary
  • Northeast Elementary
  • Parkside Elementary
  • West Side Elementary

Garrett (two five-star schools)

  • Accident Elementary
  • Crellin Elementary

Garrett (seven four-star schools):

  • Garrett Park Elementary 
  • Grantsville Elementary
  • Northern Garrett High
  • Northern Middle
  • Route 40 Elementary
  • Swan Meadow School (both elementary and middle grades)
  • Yough Glades Elementary

Washington (two five-star schools)

  • Barbara Ingram School for the Arts
  • Old Forge Elementary

Washington (19 four-star schools)

  • Boonsboro Elementary 
  • Boonsboro High
  • Boonsboro Middle
  • Cascade Elementary
  • Clear Spring Elementary 
  • Clear Spring High
  • Clear Spring Middle
  • Emma K. Doub Elementary
  • Fountaindale Elementary
  • Fountain Rock Elementary
  • North Hagerstown High
  • Paramount Elementary
  • Pleasant Valley Elementary
  • Potomac Heights Elementary
  • Rockland Woods Elementary 
  • Sharpsburg Elementary
  • Smithsburg Elementary
  • Smithsburg Middle
  • Williamsport Elementary

Frederick (nine five-star schools):

  • Centerville Elementary 
  • Deer Crossing Elementary
  • Green Valley Elementary 
  • Myersville Elementary
  • New Market Elementary 
  • Sugarloaf Elementary
  • Urbana Elementary 
  • Urbana High
  • Wolfsville Elementary

Frederick (37 four-star schools):

  • Ballenger Creek Elementary 
  • Blue Heron Elementary
  • Brunswick Elementary 
  • Brunswick High
  • Butterfly Ridge Elementary
  • Carroll Creek Montessori Public Charter
  • Carroll Manor 
  • Catoctin High
  • Emmitsburg Elementary
  • Frederick Classical Charter
  • Glade Elementary 
  • Kemptown Elementary 
  • Linganore High
  • Middletown Elementary 
  • Middletown High
  • Middletown Middle
  • Monocacy Elementary
  • Monocacy Valley Montessori 
  • New Market Middle
  • New Midway/Woodsboro Elementary
  • North Frederick Elementary 
  • Oakdale Elementary 
  • Oakdale High
  • Oakdale Middle
  • Orchard Grove Elementary 
  • Parkway Elementary
  • Spring Ridge Elementary
  • Thurmont Elementary
  • Tuscarora Elementary 
  • Twin Ridge Elementary 
  • Urbana Middle
  • Valley Elementary
  • Walkersville Elementary
  • Walkersville High
  • Whittier Elementary
  • Windsor Knolls Middle
  • Yellow Springs Elementary

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