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What's one thing Ballenger Creek Middle gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
777
Middle
DISTRICT 788 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREDERICK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240033090446
Ballenger Creek Middle
5525 Ballenger Creek Pike, Frederick, MD 21703 · (227) 203-2150 · Frederick County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL777 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 68% of Maryland public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Maryland public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.1:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
329 students
DISTRICT 39% · STATE 54%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 248 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 251 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 278 | 36% |
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · STATE 73% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
MCAP 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 3-4)English Language Arts
58.4%
MD avg 50.6% . -6.1pp since 2023
Math
26.2%
MD avg 34.8% . +2.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 26 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are down about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 58.4% | 26.2% |
| 2023-24 | 64.5% | 24.1% |
% Proficient (Levels 3-4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: MCAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
43.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.2%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 49% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Maryland's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Ballenger Creek Middle
Ballenger Creek Middle's state test result (43.3% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballenger Creek Middle this school | 777 | 42.3% | 43.3% |
| Cockeysville Middle Cockeysville | 928 | 42.3% | 40.8% |
| Ridgeview Middle Gaithersburg | 722 | 41.7% | 41.0% |
| Old Mill Middle North Millersville | 958 | 41.3% | 31.3% |
| John T. Baker Middle School Damascus | 841 | 37.1% | 45.0% |
| Mayfield Woods Middle Elkridge | 731 | 40.1% | 38.7% |
Matched among Maryland middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Ballenger Creek Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Frederick County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.3% | #76 of 223 | #8 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.2% | #100 of 223 ▼ 2 | #9 of 13 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 58.4% | #82 of 223 ▼ 29 | #9 of 13 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 777 | #115 of 230 | #8 of 13 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.4:1 | #187 of 225 | #8 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.4% | #11 of 225 | #1 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.3% | #148 of 227 | #6 of 13 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
777
-23 (-3%) vs 2020
+35% since 1990-91, when it was 576
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
was 15.1:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 777 | 47.5 | 16.4:1 | 42% (329) |
| 2023-24 | 792 | 48 | 16.5:1 | 35% (277) |
| 2022-23 | 805 | 49.5 | 16.3:1 | 36% (287) |
| 2020-21 | 800 | 53 | 15.1:1 | 29% (233) |
| 2017-18 | 777 | 48 | 16.2:1 | 24% (185) |
| 2015-16 | 712 | 45 | 15.8:1 | 24% (168) |
| 2010-11 | 696 | 45 | 15.5:1 | 18% (128) |
| 2000-01 | 994 | 62 | 16.0:1 | 9% (91) |
| 1990-91 | 576 | 34 | 16.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ballenger Creek Middle.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (777 to 777); teachers down 1% (48 to 47.5).
About Ballenger Creek Middle
Ballenger Creek Middle is a middle school with a street address in Frederick, Maryland. A total of 777 students attend the school, which covers grades 6 through 8.
District-wide, Frederick County Public Schools has 67 schools and 48,054 students.
White students are the largest group at Ballenger Creek Middle, with 35% of enrollment. The next largest groups are 26% Hispanic, 22% Black, 8% Asian, and 7% multiracial. The school's White share is 32 points below the 68% share among Frederick County residents. By the diversity index, Ballenger Creek Middle comes in at 74%.
With 47.5 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, the ratio at Ballenger Creek Middle was 16.4:1. The 14.3:1 average for middle schools in Maryland is lower than this school's figure. A measure often used for student poverty, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, stands at 42%.
The allk12 Grade for Ballenger Creek Middle is B+. Compared with Maryland public middle schools, the school scored higher than 68% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Ballenger Creek Middle, the prediction is 49.2% and the result is 43.3%.
Within Frederick County, median household income is about $122,002, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. Federal data list 69 public schools in Frederick County, with a combined enrollment of about 48,054.
Tuscarora High is located about 0.6 miles from Ballenger Creek Middle. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Among 9 nearby schools that report test results, Ballenger Creek Middle ranks 5th on proficiency.
In the federal locale system, Ballenger Creek Middle is coded Suburb: Mid-size, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment down 3%, from 800 to 777. By 2024-25, the school had 16.4 students per teacher, compared with 15.1 in 2020-21.
Conversations here can range across science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Frederick County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
287,048
Census ACS
Median income
$122,002
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
69
48,054 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Frederick County Public Schools
- Gov. Thomas Johnson HighHigh · 2,066 students
- Urbana HighHigh · 1,989 students
- Frederick HighHigh · 1,821 students
- Tuscarora HighHigh · 1,735 students
- Oakdale HighHigh · 1,702 students
- Linganore HighHigh · 1,647 students
Other schools in Frederick
- Gov. Thomas Johnson HighHigh · 2,066 students
- Frederick HighHigh · 1,821 students
- Tuscarora HighHigh · 1,735 students
- Linganore HighHigh · 1,647 students
- Crestwood MiddleMiddle · 996 students
- Waverley ElementaryElementary · 965 students
Nearby schools
- Tuscarora High0.6 mi · 1,735
- Orchard Grove Elementary0.6 mi · 613
- Ballenger Creek Elementary0.8 mi · 715
- Tuscarora Elementary1.1 mi · 793
- Crestwood Middle1.1 mi · 996
- Carroll Creek Montessori Public Charter1.5 mi · 317
Frequently asked questions
About Ballenger Creek MiddleHow large is Ballenger Creek Middle?
Ballenger Creek Middle enrolls approximately 777 students in grades 06-08.
Is Ballenger Creek Middle an elementary, middle, or high school?
Ballenger Creek Middle is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Ballenger Creek Middle have?
Ballenger Creek Middle employs 48 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.4:1.
What is the student diversity at Ballenger Creek Middle?
Student demographics at Ballenger Creek Middle are roughly 35% White, 26% Hispanic, 22% Black, 8% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Ballenger Creek Middle public or private?
Ballenger Creek Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Frederick County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.