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If you could change one rule at Maurice J. McDonough High School, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,163
High
DISTRICT 1,348 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHARLES COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240027000600
Maurice J. McDonough High School
7165 Marshall Corner Rd, Pomfret, MD 20675 · (301) 934-2944 · Charles County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,163 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 26% of Maryland public high schools
- B-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
15.7:1
74 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.0:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
476 students
DISTRICT 51% · 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 | 338 | 29% |
| Grade 10 | 281 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 292 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 252 | 22% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 61% · 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
65.0%
MD avg 50.6% . +9.2pp since 2023
Math
10.0%
MD avg 34.8% . +0.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 65 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 10 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 9 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 65.0% | 10.0% |
| 2023-24 | 55.8% | 10.0% |
% 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
35.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.0%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 50% 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 Maurice J. McDonough High School
Maurice J. McDonough High School's state test result (35.2% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maurice J. McDonough High School this school | 1,163 | 40.9% | 35.2% |
| Wilde Lake High Columbia | 1,197 | 42.6% | 32.5% |
| Pikesville High Baltimore | 908 | 48.8% | 31.3% |
| Baltimore Polytechnic Institute Baltimore | 1,632 | 47.8% | 62.5% |
| Oakland Mills High Columbia | 1,413 | 43.2% | 33.9% |
| Gwynn Park High Brandywine | 1,147 | 47.7% | 24.4% |
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 Maurice J. McDonough High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Charles County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.2% | #105 of 203 | #3 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.0% | #167 of 206 ▼ 11 | #5 of 7 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 65.0% | #83 of 206 ▲ 18 | #3 of 7 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,163 | #119 of 234 | #6 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.7:1 | #82 of 210 | #3 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.0% | #69 of 211 | #1 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 40.9% | #141 of 212 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +28.2% | #25 of 131 | #1 of 7 |
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
1,163
+164 (+16%) vs 2020
-9% since 1990-91, when it was 1,279
Student : Teacher
15.7:1
was 15.9:1
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 | 1,163 | 74 | 15.7:1 | 41% (476) |
| 2023-24 | 1,130 | 69.5 | 16.3:1 | 37% (415) |
| 2022-23 | 1,087 | 64 | 17.0:1 | 32% (350) |
| 2020-21 | 999 | 63 | 15.9:1 | 29% (291) |
| 2017-18 | 907 | 64 | 14.2:1 | 17% (154) |
| 2015-16 | 859 | 64 | 13.4:1 | 24% (205) |
| 2010-11 | 1,256 | 65 | 19.3:1 | 25% (319) |
| 2000-01 | 1,448 | 76 | 19.1:1 | 9% (126) |
| 1990-91 | 1,279 | 76 | 16.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Maurice J. McDonough High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 28% (907 to 1,163); teachers up 16% (64 to 74).
About Maurice J. McDonough High School
Maurice J. McDonough High School is a medium-sized high school in Pomfret, Maryland, one of the schools in Charles County Public Schools. Enrolled students number 1,163 students, in grades 9 through 12.
Charles County Public Schools has 38 schools; together they serve 28,162 students.
Roughly 53% of students at Maurice J. McDonough High School are Black. The rest of enrollment is 21% White, 16% Hispanic, and 7% multiracial. That is close to the 49% Black share among all Charles County residents. Maurice J. McDonough High School's diversity index is 64%, against a US figure of 70%.
Maurice J. McDonough High School employs 74 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 15.7:1. For comparison, high schools in Maryland average 15.3:1. Maurice J. McDonough High School's free or reduced-price lunch eligibility rate is 41%. That is lower than the 50% average for public schools in Charles County.
Measured against Maryland public high schools, Maurice J. McDonough High School receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Maurice J. McDonough High School is among the bottom 10% of schools in Maryland. Predicted: 50.0%. Actual: 35.2%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Charles County show that the median household income is $122,816, about 34% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 5%. Besides Maurice J. McDonough High School, Charles County has 39 other public schools.
The nearest public school is Dr. James Craik Elementary School, at about 1.0 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. The school's 35.2% average proficiency ranks 6th among 9 nearby schools.
NCES assigns Maurice J. McDonough High School the locale Rural: Fringe, meaning in rural territory close to an urban area.
The school enrolled 1,163 students in 2024-25, 164 more than the 999 it had in 2020-21.
The Maurice J. McDonough High School community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Charles County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
170,527
Census ACS
Median income
$122,816
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
40
28,162 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Charles County Public Schools
- North Point High SchoolHigh · 1,960 students
- St. Charles High SchoolHigh · 1,617 students
- Thomas Stone High SchoolHigh · 1,230 students
- La Plata High SchoolHigh · 1,217 students
- Westlake High SchoolHigh · 1,216 students
- Henry E. Lackey High SchoolHigh · 1,033 students
Other schools in Pomfret
- Dr. James Craik Elementary SchoolElementary · 520 students
- Robert D. Stethem Educational CenterHigh
Nearby schools
- Dr. James Craik Elementary School1.0 mi · 520
- Phoenix International School of the Arts4.0 mi · 243
- Milton M. Somers Middle School4.0 mi · 671
- Mary H. Matula Elementary School4.3 mi · 610
- Walter J. Mitchell Elementary School4.4 mi · 663
- Matthew Henson Middle School4.6 mi · 701
Frequently asked questions
About Maurice J. McDonough High SchoolHow many students attend Maurice J. McDonough High School?
Maurice J. McDonough High School enrolls approximately 1,163 students in grades 09-12.
Is Maurice J. McDonough High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Maurice J. McDonough High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Maurice J. McDonough High School?
Approximately 15.7:1 students per teacher at Maurice J. McDonough High School.
What is the student diversity at Maurice J. McDonough High School?
Student demographics at Maurice J. McDonough High School are roughly 21% White, 16% Hispanic, 53% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Maurice J. McDonough High School in?
Maurice J. McDonough High School is part of Charles County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.