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Welcome to the South Carroll High community. What's one thing that would make South Carroll High even better?
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Enrollment
933
High
DISTRICT 808 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CARROLL COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240021000546
South Carroll High
1300 West Old Liberty Road, Sykesville, MD 21784 · (410) 751-3575 · Carroll County
GRADES 09–12HIGH42-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL933 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 57% 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.
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
17.7:1
53 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.3:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
21%
194 students
DISTRICT 31% · 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 | 260 | 28% |
| Grade 10 | 245 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 265 | 28% |
| Grade 12 | 163 | 17% |
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 40% · 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
75.3%
MD avg 50.6% . -1.5pp since 2023
Math
10.5%
MD avg 34.8% . -13.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 13 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 75.3% | 10.5% |
| 2023-24 | 76.8% | 23.7% |
% 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
46.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.9%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% 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 South Carroll High
South Carroll High's state test result (46.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carroll High this school | 933 | 20.8% | 46.6% |
| Middletown High Middletown | 1,059 | 20.6% | 43.1% |
| Harford Technical High Bel Air | 954 | 20.9% | 50.1% |
| Fallston High Fallston | 1,036 | 15.4% | 43.1% |
| Patterson Mill High School Bel Air | 839 | 23.7% | 42.4% |
| North Harford High Pylesville | 1,204 | 23.8% | 41.2% |
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 South Carroll High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Carroll County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.6% | #40 of 203 | #3 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.5% | #111 of 206 ▼ 84 | #7 of 7 ▼ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.3% | #47 of 206 ▼ 21 | #5 of 7 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 933 | #150 of 234 | #6 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.7:1 | #160 of 210 | #3 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.6% | #157 of 211 | #5 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.8% | #186 of 212 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.0% | #20 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
933
-51 (-5%) vs 2020
-22% since 1990-91, when it was 1,197
Student : Teacher
17.7:1
was 16.7:1
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 | 933 | 52.8 | 17.7:1 | 21% (194) |
| 2023-24 | 935 | 54.8 | 17.1:1 | 20% (185) |
| 2022-23 | 921 | 57 | 16.2:1 | 19% (179) |
| 2020-21 | 984 | 59 | 16.7:1 | 12% (118) |
| 2017-18 | 1,048 | 61.7 | 17.0:1 | 8% (86) |
| 2015-16 | 1,031 | 62 | 16.6:1 | 8% (80) |
| 2010-11 | 1,114 | 63 | 17.7:1 | 7% (79) |
| 2000-01 | 1,555 | 79 | 19.7:1 | 3% (42) |
| 1990-91 | 1,197 | 69 | 17.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Carroll High.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (1,048 to 933); teachers down 14% (61.7 to 52.8).
About South Carroll High
This page covers South Carroll High, a low-enrollment high school in Sykesville, Maryland. It educates 933 students in grades 9 through 12. The typical figure for high schools in Maryland is about 1,185 students.
South Carroll High is one of 43 schools in Carroll County Public Schools, which enrolls 26,141 students in total.
White students make up a majority at South Carroll High, at 78%. The next largest groups are 12% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% Asian, and 3% multiracial. In Carroll County overall, about 86% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 38% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school reports 52.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 17.7 students per teacher. That is 2.4 students per teacher above the 15.3:1 average for high schools in Maryland. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 21% of students.
allk12 grades South Carroll High a B. The grade compares the school only with Maryland public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
South Carroll High is 15.3 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in Maryland.
In the county around the school, Carroll County, the median household income is $118,211, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 41% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 4%. Carroll County is home to 44 public schools and about 26,141 public school students.
The nearest public school is Winfield Elementary, at about 1.0 miles. Around the school, 3 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, South Carroll High is 9th among 9 schools close by.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Rural: Distant: in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
Enrollment is down 5% from 2020-21, when South Carroll High had 984 students, to 2024-25, when it had 933.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at South Carroll High, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Carroll County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
175,321
Census ACS
Median income
$118,211
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
44
26,141 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Carroll County Public Schools
- Westminster HighHigh · 1,477 students
- Manchester Valley HighHigh · 1,339 students
- Winters Mill HighHigh · 1,156 students
- Century HighHigh · 1,101 students
- Liberty HighHigh · 1,007 students
- Westminster West MiddleMiddle · 923 students
Other schools in Sykesville
- Century HighHigh · 1,101 students
- Liberty HighHigh · 1,007 students
- Oklahoma Road MiddleMiddle · 816 students
- Linton Springs ElementaryElementary · 759 students
- Sykesville MiddleMiddle · 697 students
- Freedom District ElementaryElementary · 627 students
Nearby schools
- Winfield Elementary1.0 mi · 724
- Century High2.9 mi · 1,101
- Linton Springs Elementary3.2 mi · 759
- Eldersburg Elementary5.0 mi · 470
- Liberty High5.2 mi · 1,007
- Piney Ridge Elementary5.2 mi · 578
Frequently asked questions
About South Carroll HighHow large is South Carroll High?
South Carroll High enrolls approximately 933 students in grades 09-12.
Is South Carroll High an elementary, middle, or high school?
South Carroll High is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at South Carroll High?
Approximately 17.7:1 students per teacher at South Carroll High.
What is the racial breakdown of students at South Carroll High?
At South Carroll High, the student body is approximately 78% White, 12% Hispanic, 3% Black, 3% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees South Carroll High?
South Carroll High is overseen by Carroll County Public Schools in Carroll County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.