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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Bel Air Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
521
Elementary
DISTRICT 537 · STATE 481
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HARFORD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240039000681
Bel Air Elementary
30 E Lee St, Bel Air, MD 21014 · (410) 638-4160 · Harford County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL521 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
31%
163 students
DISTRICT 41% · STATE 54%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
76.7%
MD avg 50.6% . -4.6pp since 2023
Math
56.7%
MD avg 34.8% . -19.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 77 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 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 5 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 19 points.
Source: MCAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
72.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
55.7%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+17.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 56% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 17 points, placing it in Maryland's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
521
+34 (+7%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 16.1:1
% White
73%
was 75%
% Hispanic
12%
was 12%
% Black
5%
was 7%
% Asian
4%
was 3%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Bel Air Elementary
Bel Air Elementary is an elementary-level community of mid-tier scale in Bel Air, Maryland, one of the schools within Harford County Public Schools, hosting 521 students in grades pre-K through 5.
Within Harford County Public Schools, which oversees 55 schools and 37,771 students, Bel Air Elementary is one campus in the system.
On the student-mix side, Bel Air Elementary shows that White students make up the majority at 73%. Other groups include 12% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 5% Black, 4% Asian. Compared to Harford County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.
In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.1:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.8:1, putting Bel Air Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 31% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.
After controlling for student poverty, Bel Air Elementary sits in the top 10% of Maryland schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 55.7%; actual is 72.7%, +17.0 points clear of the demographic baseline.
Around the school, community-level numbers for Harford County indicate the typical household earns roughly $112,265 per year, about 40% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Across Harford County's 55 public schools (combined enrollment of about 37,771 students), Bel Air Elementary is one campus in the mix.
Bel Air High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Bel Air Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Bel Air Elementary at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 60.7%.
Bel Air Elementary operates from a residential location.
Trend over the last 7 years. Bel Air Elementary's enrollment has rose 7% since 2018, when it stood at 487 (now 521).
On the community side, the feed for Bel Air Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Harford County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
263,757
Census ACS
Median income
$112,265
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
40%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
55
37,771 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Harford County Public Schools
- Edgewood HighHigh · 1,440 students
- Aberdeen HighHigh · 1,396 students
- Bel Air HighHigh · 1,341 students
- C. Milton Wright HighHigh · 1,291 students
- North Harford HighHigh · 1,204 students
- Southampton MiddleMiddle · 1,192 students
Other schools in Bel Air
- Bel Air HighHigh · 1,341 students
- C. Milton Wright HighHigh · 1,291 students
- Southampton MiddleMiddle · 1,192 students
- Bel Air MiddleMiddle · 1,080 students
- Homestead/Wakefield ElementaryElementary · 1,071 students
- Harford Technical HighHigh · 954 students
Nearby schools
- Bel Air High0.6 mi · 1,341
- Bel Air Middle0.9 mi · 1,080
- Southampton Middle1.1 mi · 1,192
- Homestead/Wakefield Elementary1.1 mi · 1,071
- C. Milton Wright High1.9 mi · 1,291
- Red Pump Elementary School1.9 mi · 696
Frequently asked questions
About Bel Air ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Bel Air Elementary?
Bel Air Elementary enrolls approximately 521 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Bel Air Elementary serve?
Bel Air Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bel Air Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bel Air Elementary is approximately 16.1:1 (32 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Bel Air Elementary?
At Bel Air Elementary, the student body is approximately 73% White, 12% Hispanic, 5% Black, 4% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Bel Air Elementary public or private?
Bel Air Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Harford County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.