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What's one thing Howard High gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,493
High
DISTRICT 1,313 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240042000738
Howard High
8700 Old Annapolis Rd, Ellicott City, MD 21043 · (410) 313-2867 · Howard County
GRADES 09–12HIGH12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,493 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 61% of Maryland public high schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
96 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.7:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
20%
302 students
DISTRICT 29% · STATE 54%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 378 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 346 | 23% |
| Grade 11 | 329 | 22% |
| Grade 12 | 440 | 29% |
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 77% · 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
78.2%
MD avg 50.6% . +2.4pp since 2023
Math
15.4%
MD avg 34.8% . -5.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 78 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 5 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 78.2% | 15.4% |
| 2023-24 | 75.8% | 20.8% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of MD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
47.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
62.3%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 62% 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 →
Schools most like Howard High
Howard High's state test result (47.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard High this school | 1,493 | 20.2% | 47.5% |
| Eastern Technical High School Baltimore | 1,330 | 23.1% | 83.0% |
| Mount Hebron High Ellicott City | 1,455 | 19.2% | 51.8% |
| Urbana High Ijamsville | 1,989 | 16.5% | 66.9% |
| Atholton High Columbia | 1,540 | 22.9% | 41.8% |
| Winston Churchill High Potomac | 2,185 | 10.9% | 53.8% |
Matched among Maryland high 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 Howard High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Howard County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 47.5% | #38 of 203 | #6 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.4% | #62 of 206 ▼ 27 | #6 of 13 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 78.2% | #35 of 206 ▼ 7 | #6 of 13 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,493 | #74 of 234 | #4 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.5:1 | #70 of 210 | #6 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 73.7% | #9 of 211 | #5 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.2% | #189 of 212 | #9 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.9% | #6 of 76 | #1 of 6 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,493
-335 (-18%) vs 2020
+29% since 1990-91, when it was 1,154
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
was 16.0:1
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 | 1,493 | 96.2 | 15.5:1 | 20% (302) |
| 2023-24 | 1,529 | 100.5 | 15.2:1 | 20% (299) |
| 2022-23 | 1,741 | 111.5 | 15.6:1 | 21% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 1,828 | 114 | 16.0:1 | 12% (228) |
| 2017-18 | 1,912 | 123.6 | 15.5:1 | 10% (192) |
| 2015-16 | 1,772 | 115 | 15.4:1 | 12% (205) |
| 2010-11 | 1,633 | 108 | 15.1:1 | 9% (153) |
| 2000-01 | 1,257 | 75 | 16.8:1 | 7% (89) |
| 1990-91 | 1,154 | 67 | 17.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Howard High.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (1,912 to 1,493); teachers down 22% (123.6 to 96.2).
About Howard High
This page covers Howard High, a medium-sized high school in Ellicott City, Maryland. It covers grades 9 through 12, with a total enrollment of 1,493 students. Enrollment is 26% higher than the average for high schools in Maryland, which is about 1,185.
Howard County Public Schools runs Howard High along with 76 other schools, enrolling 57,565 students in total.
Howard High's enrollment has no majority group, and White students are the largest at 35%. Smaller groups are 28% Asian, 23% Black, 7% multiracial, and 6% Hispanic. County-wide, 47% of Howard County residents are White. The chance that two students picked at random at Howard High belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 74%.
A ratio of 15.5:1 comes from the school's 96.2 full-time-equivalent teachers. High schools in Maryland average about 15.3:1, a similar figure. The lunch program counts 20% of students at Howard High as eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Measured against Maryland public high schools, Howard High receives a B. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Test results at Howard High are 14.7 points below what its student poverty level predicts. The average proficiency rate on state tests is 47.5%, compared with a predicted 62.3%, which ranks in the bottom 10% in Maryland.
Howard County has about 336,328 residents, and median household income is about $149,763, 65% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 4% of people live in poverty. The public schools of Howard County number 78 and enroll about 57,565.
Nearby, Phelps Luck Elementary is about 0.4 miles away. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. Howard High is 6th of 9 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
Locale: City: Mid-size. In NCES terms, the school is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment was 1,828 in 2020-21 and 1,493 in 2024-25, a decrease of 335 students.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Howard High covering things like school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Howard County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
336,328
Census ACS
Median income
$149,763
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
65%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
57,565 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Howard County Public Schools
- Marriotts Ridge HighHigh · 1,741 students
- Reservoir HighHigh · 1,597 students
- Atholton HighHigh · 1,540 students
- Mount Hebron HighHigh · 1,455 students
- Oakland Mills HighHigh · 1,413 students
- River Hill HighHigh · 1,383 students
Other schools in Ellicott City
- Mount Hebron HighHigh · 1,455 students
- Centennial HighHigh · 1,377 students
- Veterans ElementaryElementary · 883 students
- Waverly ElementaryElementary · 827 students
- Bellows Spring ElementaryElementary · 806 students
- Burleigh Manor MiddleMiddle · 777 students
Other Howard High schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Howard High. Howard High is the largest of the 3.
- Howard High SchoolMacon, GA · 1,145 students
- Howard High School - 01Howard, SD · 96 students
Nearby schools
- Phelps Luck Elementary0.4 mi · 681
- Thunder Hill Elementary1.2 mi · 459
- Long Reach High1.4 mi · 1,334
- Waterloo Elementary1.6 mi · 666
- Worthington Elementary1.6 mi · 403
- Ellicott Mills Middle1.6 mi · 698
Frequently asked questions
About Howard HighHow many students attend Howard High?
Howard High enrolls approximately 1,493 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Howard High serve?
Howard High serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Howard High?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Howard High is approximately 15.5:1 (96 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Howard High?
Howard High reports a student body of 35% White, 6% Hispanic, 23% Black, 28% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Howard High in?
Howard High is part of Howard County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.