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What do you wish you knew before starting at Towson High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,558
High
DISTRICT 1,070 · STATE 1,185
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240012000487
Towson High
69 Cedar Ave, Towson, MD 21286 · (443) 809-3608 · Baltimore County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,558 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.9:1
87 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.9:1 · STATE 15.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
27%
422 students
DISTRICT 55% · 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 | 345 | 22% |
| Grade 10 | 377 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 384 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 452 | 29% |
Student demographics
64%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
74.3%
MD avg 50.6% . +4.0pp since 2023
Math
11.3%
MD avg 34.8% . -26.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 74 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 up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 26 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 74.3% | 11.3% |
| 2023-24 | 70.3% | 37.6% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
48.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
58.2%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 58% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Maryland's top nor bottom 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 Towson High
Towson High's state test result (48.4% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Towson High this school | 1,558 | 27.1% | 48.4% |
| Arundel High Gambrills | 1,778 | 26.9% | 45.3% |
| Bel Air High Bel Air | 1,341 | 22.7% | 45.6% |
| Sherwood High Sandy Spring | 1,675 | 22.4% | 46.5% |
| La Plata High School La Plata | 1,217 | 31.0% | 37.2% |
| Crofton High School Gambrills | 1,906 | 17.3% | 55.1% |
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 Towson High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Baltimore County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.4% | #35 of 203 | #5 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.3% | #95 of 206 ▼ 88 | #6 of 24 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 74.3% | #50 of 206 ▼ 5 | #5 of 24 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,558 | #69 of 234 | #8 of 32 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.9:1 | #166 of 210 | #20 of 24 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.2% | #67 of 211 | #13 of 24 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 27.1% | #169 of 212 | #22 of 25 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.3% | #129 of 131 | #16 of 16 |
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
1,558
-119 (-7%) vs 2020
+63% since 1990-91, when it was 956
Student : Teacher
17.9:1
was 17.3:1
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 | 1,558 | 87.2 | 17.9:1 | 27% (422) |
| 2023-24 | 1,650 | 92.1 | 17.9:1 | 25% (418) |
| 2022-23 | 1,676 | 92.5 | 18.1:1 | 26% (442) |
| 2020-21 | 1,677 | 97 | 17.3:1 | 18% (304) |
| 2017-18 | 1,553 | 86.5 | 17.9:1 | 16% (254) |
| 2015-16 | 1,482 | 84 | 17.6:1 | 16% (240) |
| 2010-11 | 1,395 | 89 | 15.7:1 | 14% (191) |
| 2000-01 | 1,240 | 76 | 16.3:1 | 5% (65) |
| 1990-91 | 956 | 72 | 13.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Towson High.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (1,553 to 1,558); teachers up 1% (86.5 to 87.2).
About Towson High
Located in Towson, Maryland, Towson High is a medium-sized high school. The school's enrollment of 1,558 students covers grades 9 through 12. Statewide, high schools in Maryland average about 1,185 students each.
Towson High is one of the 177 schools that make up Baltimore County Public Schools (110,872 students in total).
Towson High is 53% White by enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 26% Black, 9% Asian, 7% Hispanic, and 5% multiracial. The White share in Baltimore County as a whole is similar, at about 53%. Towson High's diversity index is 64%, against a US figure of 70%.
Towson High's 87.2 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 17.9:1. On average, high schools in Maryland have 15.3:1, compared with 17.9:1 here. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 27%. The rate at public schools in Baltimore County averages 53%, higher than here.
The model predicts 58.2% for a school in Maryland with Towson High's free or reduced-price lunch share. Towson High posts 48.4%.
Towson High is located in Baltimore County, where the median household income is $91,768, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 42%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Besides Towson High, Baltimore County has 179 other public schools.
The shortest distance from Towson High to another public school is about 0.6 miles, to Stoneleigh Elementary. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Towson High places 5th of 6 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
NCES assigns Towson High the locale City: Small, meaning inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment is down 7% from 2020-21, when Towson High had 1,677 students, to 2024-25, when it had 1,558.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
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 Towson
- George W. Carver Center for Arts & TechnologyHigh · 1,017 students
- Pleasant Plains ElementaryElementary · 575 students
- Riderwood ElementaryElementary · 423 students
- BCDC Educational CenterHigh · 52 students
- Home Assignments-SecondaryHigh · 43 students
- Southwest EDLP at Woodlawn High SchoolHigh · 4 students
Nearby schools
- Stoneleigh Elementary0.6 mi · 645
- BCDC Educational Center0.7 mi · 52
- Home Assignments-Elementary0.7 mi · 1
- Home Assignments-Secondary0.7 mi · 43
- Dumbarton Middle0.9 mi · 1,064
- Rodgers Forge Elementary1.0 mi · 412
Frequently asked questions
About Towson HighHow many students attend Towson High?
Towson High enrolls approximately 1,558 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Towson High serve?
Towson High serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Towson High?
Approximately 17.9:1 students per teacher at Towson High.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Towson High?
At Towson High, the student body is approximately 53% White, 7% Hispanic, 26% Black, 9% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Towson High in?
Towson High is part of Baltimore County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.