Mount Savage Middle

Mount Savage Middle is a public school in Mount Savage, MD, serving 408 students in grades 6-8 as part of the Allegany County Public Schools district. The school has a history of solid performance, consistently earning 3 or 4 stars from Schooldigger over the past decade, though its state ranking has gradually declined from a peak of 51st in 2021-2022 to its current rank of 114th for the 2025-2026 school year. Approximately 47% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, indicating a moderate level of economic disadvantage.

Mount Savage Middle stands out from nearby schools like Westmar Middle and Washington Middle in several key areas. The school's most striking differentiator is its exceptional performance in advanced mathematics: 52.1% of students taking the Algebra I End-of-Course exam were proficient, which is nearly 3.8 times higher than the district average of 13.8% and 2.4 times higher than the state average of 21.3%. This trend has been consistent over the past four years, suggesting a highly effective advanced math program. In English Language Arts, Mount Savage has consistently outperformed both the district and state, with 54.5% of students proficient compared to 53.1% for the district and 51.7% for the state. The school also has a lower chronic absenteeism rate (31.0%) than the district average (33.6%) and significantly lower than Washington Middle (42.8%).

However, the school presents a unique "dual-peak" performance in math. While it excels in accelerating top students into Algebra I, only 1% of 8th graders were proficient in grade-level math, dramatically lower than the district (7.2%) and state (9.6%). This is likely because the highest-performing 8th graders take the Algebra I exam instead, leaving only standard-track students for the 8th-grade test. Compared to Braddock Middle, the top performer in the area, Mount Savage trails in most metrics (e.g., 28.1% vs. 34.9% in all-grades math) but remains competitive in Algebra I proficiency. The school's per-student spending ($16,813) is in line with nearby schools and significantly lower than Westmar Middle ($25,944), yet it achieves far better academic results, indicating efficient use of resources. With a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.3:1, Mount Savage offers relatively small class sizes that support its strong performance for economically disadvantaged students.