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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Bel Air High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,341
High
DISTRICT 1,030 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HARFORD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240039000683
Bel Air High
100 Heighe St, Bel Air, MD 21014 · (410) 638-4600 · Harford County
GRADES 09–12HIGH22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL1,341 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
87 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.2:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
23%
305 students
DISTRICT 41% · STATE 54%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high 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
74.4%
MD avg 50.6% . +5.7pp since 2023
Math
24.8%
MD avg 34.8% . +10.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are up about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
Source: MCAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of MD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
45.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.8%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 46% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 61% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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
1,341
-214 (-14%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
was 16.3:1
% White
67%
was 77%
% Hispanic
10%
was 5%
% Black
11%
was 7%
% Asian
8%
was 7%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Bel Air High
Bel Air High is a high school of moderately sized scale in Bel Air, Maryland, run under Harford County Public Schools, serveing 1,341 students in grades 9 through 12.
Within Harford County Public Schools, which oversees 55 schools and 37,771 students, Bel Air High is one campus in the system.
On demographics, Bel Air High shows that White students make up the majority at 67%. Beyond that, the school reports 11% Black, 10% Hispanic, 8% Asian, 4% multiracial.
On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 87 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.5:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 23% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is noticeably below Harford County's rate of about 39%.
After controlling for student poverty, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Bel Air High sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 60.8%; actual is 45.6%, a gap of -15.2 points.
In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Harford County indicate the typical household earns roughly $112,265 per year, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Harford County's 55 public schools (combined enrollment of about 37,771 students), Bel Air High is one campus in the mix.
The closest other public school is Bel Air Middle, roughly 0.3 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Bel Air High comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 62.2%.
The school occupies a bedroom-community site.
Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Bel Air High has contracted 14%, going from 1,555 students in 2018 to 1,341 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 77% to 67%.
On this page, members of the Bel Air High community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.
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
- C. Milton Wright HighHigh · 1,291 students
- North Harford HighHigh · 1,204 students
- Southampton MiddleMiddle · 1,192 students
- Youths Benefit ElementaryElementary · 1,151 students
Other schools in Bel Air
- 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
- Patterson Mill High SchoolHigh · 839 students
Nearby schools
- Bel Air Middle0.3 mi · 1,080
- Bel Air Elementary0.6 mi · 521
- Homestead/Wakefield Elementary0.6 mi · 1,071
- Southampton Middle1.3 mi · 1,192
- Ring Factory Elementary1.5 mi · 541
- Patterson Mill Middle School2.1 mi · 716
Frequently asked questions
About Bel Air HighHow many students attend Bel Air High?
Bel Air High enrolls approximately 1,341 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Bel Air High serve?
Bel Air High serves grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bel Air High?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bel Air High is approximately 15.5:1 (87 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Bel Air High?
Bel Air High reports a student body of 67% White, 10% Hispanic, 11% Black, 8% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Is Bel Air High public or private?
Bel Air High 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.