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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Thurmont Middle?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
507
Middle
DISTRICT 788 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREDERICK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240033000651
Thurmont Middle
408 E Main St, Thurmont, MD 21788 · (227) 203-2500 · Frederick County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL507 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% of Maryland public middle schools
- C+Test 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
14.7:1
35 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.1:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
245 students
DISTRICT 39% · 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 | 154 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 171 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 182 | 36% |
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 69% · 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
48.0%
MD avg 50.6% . +6.5pp since 2023
Math
20.7%
MD avg 34.8% . +6.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 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 7 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 48.0% | 20.7% |
| 2023-24 | 41.5% | 14.4% |
% 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
31.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
45.6%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 31% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 46% 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 Thurmont Middle
Thurmont Middle's state test result (31.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thurmont Middle this school | 507 | 48.3% | 31.1% |
| Bohemia Manor Middle Chesapeake City | 473 | 50.7% | 37.9% |
| Smithsburg Middle Smithsburg | 554 | 46.4% | 55.6% |
| Sparrows Point Middle Baltimore | 555 | 48.8% | 29.0% |
| Perryville Middle Perryville | 512 | 46.5% | 35.4% |
| Berlin Intermediate Berlin | 613 | 46.8% | 57.0% |
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 Thurmont Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Frederick County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 31.1% | #134 of 223 | #12 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 20.7% | #128 of 223 ▲ 26 | #12 of 13 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 48.0% | #119 of 223 ▲ 23 | #10 of 13 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 507 | #193 of 230 | #13 of 13 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.7:1 | #119 of 225 | #2 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.6% | #199 of 225 | #13 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.3% | #126 of 227 | #4 of 13 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -8.6% | #64 of 123 | N/A |
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
507
-66 (-12%) vs 2020
-3% since 1990-91, when it was 523
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
was 16.4:1
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 | 507 | 34.5 | 14.7:1 | 48% (245) |
| 2023-24 | 521 | 32 | 16.3:1 | 42% (217) |
| 2022-23 | 546 | 35.5 | 15.4:1 | 41% (223) |
| 2020-21 | 573 | 35 | 16.4:1 | 32% (185) |
| 2017-18 | 555 | 30.5 | 18.2:1 | 29% (160) |
| 2015-16 | 544 | 36 | 15.1:1 | 31% (168) |
| 2010-11 | 685 | 46 | 14.9:1 | 24% (164) |
| 2000-01 | 686 | 44 | 15.6:1 | 19% (133) |
| 1990-91 | 523 | 31 | 16.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thurmont Middle.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (555 to 507); teachers up 13% (30.5 to 34.5).
About Thurmont Middle
In Thurmont, Maryland, Thurmont Middle is a low-enrollment middle-grades school. The school's 507 students are in grades 6 through 8. Enrollment is 34% lower than the average for middle schools in Maryland, which is about 764.
Thurmont Middle is among 67 schools run by Frederick County Public Schools, which serves 48,054 students.
By race and ethnicity, Thurmont Middle is 79% White. The rest of enrollment is 13% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 3% Black. Census estimates put the White share of Frederick County's population at about 68%. The chance that two students picked at random at Thurmont Middle belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 36%.
Dividing enrollment by its 34.5 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 14.7:1. Across middle schools in Maryland, the average ratio is about 14.3:1. Thurmont Middle reports 48% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Across public schools in Frederick County, the average is 37%.
Measured against Maryland public middle schools, Thurmont Middle 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.
Schools in Maryland with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate on state tests near 45.6%. Thurmont Middle posts 31.1%, 14.5 points below that, which places it in the bottom 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Frederick County show that median household income is about $122,002, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. Thurmont Middle is one of 69 public schools in Frederick County, which together enroll about 48,054 students.
The school nearest to Thurmont Middle is Thurmont Elementary, at a distance of about 0.5 miles. Counting only straight-line distance, 4 other public schools are within five miles. On state test proficiency, Thurmont Middle ranks 8th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
NCES describes the area around Thurmont Middle as Town: Fringe, meaning in a town close to an urbanized area.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count declined from 573 to 507. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (14.7:1) than in 2020-21 (16.4:1).
The Thurmont Middle community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Frederick County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
287,048
Census ACS
Median income
$122,002
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
69
48,054 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Frederick County Public Schools
- Gov. Thomas Johnson HighHigh · 2,066 students
- Urbana HighHigh · 1,989 students
- Frederick HighHigh · 1,821 students
- Tuscarora HighHigh · 1,735 students
- Oakdale HighHigh · 1,702 students
- Linganore HighHigh · 1,647 students
Other schools in Thurmont
- Catoctin HighHigh · 823 students
- Thurmont PrimaryElementary · 350 students
- Thurmont ElementaryElementary · 283 students
- Lewistown ElementaryElementary · 152 students
Nearby schools
- Thurmont Elementary0.5 mi · 283
- Thurmont Primary0.9 mi · 350
- Catoctin High1.3 mi · 823
- Sabillasville Environmental School5.0 mi · 196
- Lewistown Elementary5.6 mi · 152
- Emmitsburg Elementary7.0 mi · 211
Frequently asked questions
About Thurmont MiddleWhat is the total enrollment at Thurmont Middle?
Thurmont Middle enrolls approximately 507 students in grades 06-08.
Is Thurmont Middle an elementary, middle, or high school?
Thurmont Middle is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Thurmont Middle?
Approximately 14.7:1 students per teacher at Thurmont Middle.
How diverse is Thurmont Middle?
Thurmont Middle reports a student body of 79% White, 13% Hispanic, 3% Black, 0% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Thurmont Middle public or private?
Thurmont Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Frederick County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.