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If you could change one rule at Stephen Decatur Middle, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
665
Middle
DISTRICT 537 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WORCESTER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240072000880
Stephen Decatur Middle
9815 Seahawk Rd, Berlin, MD 21811 · (410) 641-2846 · Worcester County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL665 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 98% of Maryland public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
52 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
49%
325 students
DISTRICT 52% · 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 7 | 325 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 340 | 51% |
Student demographics
48%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 56% · 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
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Worcester County Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MCAP 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 3-4)English Language Arts
80.7%
MD avg 50.6% . +1.4pp since 2023
Math
47.6%
MD avg 34.8% . +3.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 81 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 48 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 1 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 80.7% | 47.6% |
| 2023-24 | 79.3% | 44.1% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
62.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
45.3%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+17.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 63% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 45% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 18 points, placing it in Maryland's top 10%.
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 Stephen Decatur Middle
Stephen Decatur Middle's state test result (62.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Decatur Middle this school | 665 | 48.9% | 62.9% |
| Berlin Intermediate Berlin | 613 | 46.8% | 57.0% |
| Northwest Middle Taneytown | 655 | 44.4% | 38.9% |
| Sparrows Point Middle Baltimore | 555 | 48.8% | 29.0% |
| North East Middle North East | 758 | 53.6% | 25.5% |
| Smithsburg Middle Smithsburg | 554 | 46.4% | 55.6% |
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 Stephen Decatur Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 62.9% | #18 of 223 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 47.6% | #27 of 223 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 80.7% | #12 of 223 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 665 | #157 of 230 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.8:1 | #47 of 225 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 47.9% | #158 of 225 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.9% | #121 of 227 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.2% | #87 of 95 |
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
665
-26 (-4%) vs 2020
+5% since 2000-01, when it was 632
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
was 12.8:1
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 | 665 | 52 | 12.8:1 | 49% (325) |
| 2023-24 | 670 | 55.5 | 12.1:1 | 44% (297) |
| 2022-23 | 697 | 57 | 12.2:1 | 50% (350) |
| 2020-21 | 691 | 54 | 12.8:1 | 38% (266) |
| 2017-18 | 657 | 52 | 12.6:1 | 38% (251) |
| 2015-16 | 615 | 53 | 11.6:1 | 39% (240) |
| 2010-11 | 614 | 49 | 12.5:1 | 34% (211) |
| 2000-01 | 632 | 36 | 17.6:1 | 31% (198) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Stephen Decatur Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (657 to 665); teachers unchanged (52 to 52).
About Stephen Decatur Middle
Stephen Decatur Middle sits in Berlin, Maryland, and is classified as a middle school. It is open to students in grades 7 through 8 and enrolls 665 students.
Worcester County Public Schools runs 13 schools with a combined 7,002 students. Stephen Decatur Middle is one of them.
Of every 100 students at Stephen Decatur Middle, about 70 are White. The school is also 11% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, and 8% Black. The White share of the county population is higher, at 79%. The diversity index for Stephen Decatur Middle is 48%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
The school had 52 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 12.8:1. The gap from the 14.3:1 average for middle schools in Maryland is 1.5 students per teacher. The school reported 49% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. The figure for public schools in Worcester County is close, at 49%.
Stephen Decatur Middle holds an A+ allk12 Grade, placing it above 98% of Maryland public middle schools.
Stephen Decatur Middle is a top-10% school in Maryland on BeatsExpectations, beating its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results of 45.3% with an actual 62.9%.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Worcester County show that median household income comes to about $81,745, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 35% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 7%. The county's public schools total 14, with about 7,002 students.
Stephen Decatur Middle's nearest public school is Stephen Decatur High (about 0.3 miles). Inside a five-mile radius, there are 5 other public schools. Ranked by average proficiency, Stephen Decatur Middle places 3rd out of 6 schools in its immediate area.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Town: Distant.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 665, from 691 in 2020-21.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on athletics, class schedules, and weather closures here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Worcester County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
53,700
Census ACS
Median income
$81,745
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
14
7,002 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Worcester County Public Schools
- Stephen Decatur HighHigh · 1,462 students
- Showell ElementaryElementary · 638 students
- Berlin IntermediateMiddle · 613 students
- Ocean City ElementaryElementary · 566 students
- Buckingham ElementaryElementary · 518 students
- Pocomoke ElementaryElementary · 491 students
Other schools in Berlin
- Stephen Decatur HighHigh · 1,462 students
- Showell ElementaryElementary · 638 students
- Berlin IntermediateMiddle · 613 students
- Buckingham ElementaryElementary · 518 students
Other Stephen Decatur Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 2 states are named Stephen Decatur Middle. Stephen Decatur Middle is the 2nd largest of the 3.
- Stephen Decatur MiddleClinton, MD · 751 students
- Stephen Decatur Middle SchoolDecatur, IL · 413 students
Nearby schools
- Stephen Decatur High0.3 mi · 1,462
- Berlin Intermediate1.3 mi · 613
- Buckingham Elementary2.1 mi · 518
- Showell Elementary3.7 mi · 638
- Ocean City Elementary4.5 mi · 566
- Showell (Phillip C.) Elementary School8.7 mi · 297
Frequently asked questions
About Stephen Decatur MiddleHow large is Stephen Decatur Middle?
Stephen Decatur Middle enrolls approximately 665 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Stephen Decatur Middle serve?
Stephen Decatur Middle serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Stephen Decatur Middle?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Stephen Decatur Middle is approximately 12.8:1 (52 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Stephen Decatur Middle?
At Stephen Decatur Middle, the student body is approximately 70% White, 11% Hispanic, 8% Black, 1% Asian, 9% Two or more.
What district is Stephen Decatur Middle in?
Stephen Decatur Middle is part of Worcester County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.