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Welcome to the Wilde Lake Middle community. What's one thing that would make Wilde Lake Middle even better?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
643
Middle
DISTRICT 663 · STATE 764
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HOWARD COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240042000763
Wilde Lake Middle
10481 Cross Fox Ln, Columbia, MD 21044 · (410) 313-6957 · Howard County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL643 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 45% of Maryland public middle schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats 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
13.2:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 14.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
39%
251 students
DISTRICT 29% · 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 | 219 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 219 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 205 | 32% |
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 77% · 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
52.5%
MD avg 50.6% . +1.7pp since 2023
Math
31.9%
MD avg 34.8% . +5.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 53 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 52.5% | 31.9% |
| 2023-24 | 50.8% | 26.6% |
% 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
40.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.1%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 51% 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 Wilde Lake Middle
Wilde Lake Middle's state test result (40.5% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilde Lake Middle this school | 643 | 39.0% | 40.5% |
| Milton M. Somers Middle School La Plata | 671 | 43.2% | 40.3% |
| Silver Creek Middle Kensington | 751 | 32.6% | 52.6% |
| Parkville Middle Baltimore | 900 | 45.1% | 36.1% |
| Lake Elkhorn Middle Columbia | 569 | 49.0% | 29.9% |
| Esperanza Middle Lexington Park | 835 | 42.8% | 43.3% |
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 Wilde Lake Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Howard County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 40.5% | #89 of 223 | #14 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 31.9% | #75 of 223 ▲ 10 | #13 of 20 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 52.5% | #101 of 223 ▼ 3 | #15 of 20 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 643 | #162 of 230 | #13 of 20 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.2:1 | #66 of 225 | #8 of 20 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.8% | #58 of 225 | #14 of 20 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.0% | #156 of 227 | #7 of 20 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.4% | #58 of 95 | #6 of 10 |
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
643
+2 (+0%) vs 2020
+22% since 1990-91, when it was 528
Student : Teacher
13.2:1
was 12.6:1
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 | 643 | 48.6 | 13.2:1 | 39% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 618 | 51.2 | 12.1:1 | 39% (239) |
| 2022-23 | 611 | 50.6 | 12.1:1 | 40% (242) |
| 2020-21 | 641 | 51 | 12.6:1 | 37% (240) |
| 2017-18 | 610 | 53 | 11.5:1 | 33% (200) |
| 2015-16 | 560 | 48 | 11.7:1 | 40% (226) |
| 2010-11 | 506 | 42 | 12.1:1 | 34% (173) |
| 2000-01 | 525 | 39 | 13.5:1 | 25% (133) |
| 1990-91 | 528 | 39 | 13.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Wilde Lake Middle.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (610 to 643); teachers down 8% (53 to 48.6).
About Wilde Lake Middle
Wilde Lake Middle operates as a low-enrollment middle school in Columbia, Maryland. It educates 643 students in grades 6 through 8.
Howard County Public Schools is responsible for 77 schools, Wilde Lake Middle included, with 57,565 students in all.
Federal enrollment data show Black students as the largest group at Wilde Lake Middle, at 43%. Other groups make up 30% White, 13% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, and 5% Asian. County-wide, 20% of Howard County residents are Black. Pick two students at random and there is a 70% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Wilde Lake Middle counts 48.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 13.2 students for each one. On average, middle schools in Maryland have 14.3:1, compared with 13.2:1 here. About 39% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 27% for public schools in Howard County.
Measured against Maryland public middle schools, Wilde Lake Middle receives a B-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Wilde Lake Middle is -10.7 points: 40.5% actual, 51.1% predicted.
Within Howard County, the median household income is $149,763, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 65% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 4%. In all, Howard County has 78 public schools and roughly 57,565 students.
Of nearby public schools, Wilde Lake High is the closest, at about 0.2 miles. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Wilde Lake Middle. Its average proficiency rate of 40.5% is below the 45.8% average for nearby schools.
By NCES locale, the school is City: Mid-size, or inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment went from 641 in 2020-21 to 643 in 2024-25, a change of 2 students.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Howard County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
336,328
Census ACS
Median income
$149,763
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
65%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
78
57,565 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Howard County Public Schools
- Marriotts Ridge HighHigh · 1,741 students
- Reservoir HighHigh · 1,597 students
- Atholton HighHigh · 1,540 students
- Howard HighHigh · 1,493 students
- Mount Hebron HighHigh · 1,455 students
- Oakland Mills HighHigh · 1,413 students
Other schools in Columbia
- Atholton HighHigh · 1,540 students
- Oakland Mills HighHigh · 1,413 students
- Long Reach HighHigh · 1,334 students
- Wilde Lake HighHigh · 1,197 students
- Hammond HighHigh · 1,159 students
- Phelps Luck ElementaryElementary · 681 students
Nearby schools
- Wilde Lake High0.2 mi · 1,197
- Bryant Woods Elementary0.6 mi · 366
- Swansfield Elementary0.6 mi · 594
- Longfellow Elementary0.7 mi · 446
- Harpers Choice Middle0.8 mi · 471
- Running Brook Elementary1.3 mi · 407
Frequently asked questions
About Wilde Lake MiddleHow many students attend Wilde Lake Middle?
Wilde Lake Middle enrolls approximately 643 students in grades 06-08.
Is Wilde Lake Middle an elementary, middle, or high school?
Wilde Lake Middle is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Wilde Lake Middle?
Approximately 13.2:1 students per teacher at Wilde Lake Middle.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Wilde Lake Middle?
At Wilde Lake Middle, the student body is approximately 30% White, 13% Hispanic, 43% Black, 5% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Wilde Lake Middle public or private?
Wilde Lake Middle is a public K-12 school, overseen by Howard County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.