1
Which teacher or staff member at Southwest Academy deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
842
Middle
DISTRICT 818 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240012000411
Southwest Academy
6200 Johnnycake Rd, Baltimore, MD 21207 · (410) 887-0825 · Baltimore County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL842 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Maryland public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
52 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
537 students
DISTRICT 55% · STATE 54%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 290 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 307 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 245 | 29% |
Student demographics
65%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 72% · 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
34.5%
MD avg 50.6% . +8.2pp since 2023
Math
16.4%
MD avg 34.8% . +6.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 35 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 16 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 34.5% | 16.4% |
| 2023-24 | 26.3% | 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
21.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.5%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 36% 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 Southwest Academy
Southwest Academy's state test result (21.8% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Academy this school | 842 | 63.8% | 21.8% |
| Briggs Chaney Middle Silver Spring | 858 | 62.0% | 32.5% |
| Pikesville Middle Baltimore | 943 | 57.6% | 21.9% |
| Francis Scott Key Middle Silver Spring | 950 | 63.3% | 27.3% |
| Roberto W. Clemente Middle Germantown | 888 | 55.0% | 34.1% |
| Benjamin Banneker Middle Burtonsville | 705 | 51.9% | 27.5% |
Matched among Maryland middle 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 Southwest Academy ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Baltimore County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.8% | #194 of 223 | #21 of 26 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.4% | #159 of 223 ▲ 39 | #15 of 26 ▲ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.5% | #189 of 223 ▲ 13 | #17 of 26 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 842 | #82 of 230 | #13 of 30 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.2:1 | #181 of 225 | #18 of 28 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.1% | #90 of 225 | #14 of 28 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 63.8% | #59 of 227 | #11 of 28 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -5.2% | #88 of 123 | #16 of 20 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
842
+48 (+6%) vs 2020
-3% since 1990-91, when it was 865
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
was 14.7:1
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 | 842 | 52 | 16.2:1 | 64% (537) |
| 2023-24 | 813 | 56.3 | 14.4:1 | 65% (525) |
| 2022-23 | 739 | 52.3 | 14.1:1 | 64% (476) |
| 2020-21 | 794 | 54 | 14.7:1 | 72% (572) |
| 2017-18 | 888 | 53.6 | 16.6:1 | 67% (595) |
| 2015-16 | 790 | 54 | 14.6:1 | 62% (489) |
| 2010-11 | 726 | 51 | 14.2:1 | 63% (460) |
| 2000-01 | 1,275 | 86 | 14.8:1 | 41% (522) |
| 1990-91 | 865 | 61 | 14.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southwest Academy.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (888 to 842); teachers down 3% (53.6 to 52).
About Southwest Academy
Baltimore, Maryland, is home to Southwest Academy, a mid-sized middle school. Enrollment stands at 842 students, covering grades 6 through 8.
Baltimore County Public Schools enrolls 110,872 students in 177 schools, including Southwest Academy.
At Southwest Academy, 51% of students are Black. Other students are 24% Hispanic, 15% Asian, and 7% White. That is higher than the 31% Black share among all Baltimore County residents. The diversity index for Southwest Academy is 65%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
For every teacher at Southwest Academy, there are about 16.2 students; the school has 52 full-time-equivalent teachers. Statewide, middle schools in Maryland average 14.3:1. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 64%. For comparison, public schools in Baltimore County average 53%.
Southwest Academy holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 7% of Maryland public middle schools.
Southwest Academy posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 21.8%. Schools with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Maryland are predicted to post 36.5%, so the school is 14.7 points behind and in the state's bottom 10%.
In Baltimore County, median household income comes to about $91,768, roughly 42% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. The county's public schools total 180, with about 110,872 students.
Measured in a straight line, Johnnycake Elementary is about 0.5 miles from Southwest Academy. The five-mile area around Southwest Academy holds at least 8 other public schools. Southwest Academy comes in 7th of 7 nearby schools on average proficiency.
Southwest Academy is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, a location NCES labels Suburb: Large.
In 2020-21, Southwest Academy enrolled 794 students. By 2024-25, that number had grown to 842. The student-to-teacher ratio increased from 14.7:1 in 2020-21 to 16.2:1 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the Southwest Academy community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Baltimore County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
850,796
Census ACS
Median income
$91,768
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
42%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
180
110,872 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Baltimore County Public Schools
- Dundalk HighHigh · 2,087 students
- Perry Hall HighHigh · 2,012 students
- Woodlawn HighHigh · 1,922 students
- Kenwood HighHigh · 1,900 students
- Dulaney HighHigh · 1,889 students
- Parkville HighHigh · 1,877 students
Other schools in Baltimore
- Dundalk HighHigh · 2,087 students
- Perry Hall HighHigh · 2,012 students
- Woodlawn HighHigh · 1,922 students
- Kenwood HighHigh · 1,900 students
- Parkville HighHigh · 1,877 students
- Catonsville HighHigh · 1,735 students
Nearby schools
- Johnnycake Elementary0.5 mi · 592
- Edmondson Heights Elementary0.9 mi · 556
- Westowne Elementary1.0 mi · 635
- Woodlawn High1.1 mi · 1,922
- Southwest EDLP at Woodlawn High School1.1 mi · 4
- Meadowood Education Center1.2 mi · 29
Frequently asked questions
About Southwest AcademyWhat is the total enrollment at Southwest Academy?
Southwest Academy enrolls approximately 842 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Southwest Academy serve?
Southwest Academy serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Southwest Academy have?
Southwest Academy employs 52 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.2:1.
How diverse is Southwest Academy?
Southwest Academy reports a student body of 7% White, 24% Hispanic, 51% Black, 15% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Southwest Academy public or private?
Southwest Academy is a public K-12 school, overseen by Baltimore County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.