Howard High

Howard High is an average-sized four-year high school in Ellicott City, Maryland, one of the schools within Howard County Public Schools. The school instructs 1,493 students in grades 9 through 12. By comparison, Maryland's public schools average about 1,185 students each, so Howard High sits 26% above that benchmark.

Howard County Public Schools runs 77 schools in total, collectively educating 57,565 students. Howard High is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Howard High logs that 35% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder comes out to 28% Asian, 23% Black, 7% multiracial, 6% Hispanic. By comparison, Howard County as a whole is about 47% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 96 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.5:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 20% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Howard High is in the bottom 10% of Maryland public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 62.3%; Howard High posts 47.5%, -14.7 points below that line.

Across the wider county, Howard County reports that median household earnings sit near $149,763, 65% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Howard County runs 78 public schools (combined enrollment of about 57,565 students), of which Howard High is one.

Nearest neighbor: Phelps Luck Elementary, around 0.4 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Howard High at 6th of 9; the average score across the group is 53.1%.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Howard High has edged down 22%, going from 1,912 students in 2018 to 1,493 in 2025. The White share of enrollment decreased from 49% to 35% over that span.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.