John T. Baker Middle School

John T. Baker Middle School is one of the medium-sized middle-grades schools in Damascus, Maryland, run under Montgomery County Public Schools, with 841 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8.

Across the 208 schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (159,181 students total), John T. Baker Middle School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, John T. Baker Middle School logs that the largest single group is White at 38%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 35% Hispanic, 13% Black, 7% Asian, 6% multiracial.

Looking at school resources, The school employs 57 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.7:1. The state averages about 14.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 37% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, John T. Baker Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 52.3%, the actual is 45.0%, a residual of -7.2 points.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Montgomery County indicate median household earnings sit near $132,450, about 61% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. John T. Baker Middle School is one of 211 public schools in Montgomery County (combined enrollment of about 159,181 students).

Nearest neighbor: Damascus High, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, John T. Baker Middle School comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 62.5%.

John T. Baker Middle School operates from a countryside location.

Trend over the last 7 years. John T. Baker Middle School's enrollment has edged down 4% since 2018, when it stood at 872 (now 841). The White share of enrollment declined from 51% to 38% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 15.7:1 in 2018 to 14.7:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.