Summary:
In zip code 20659, there is one middle school, Margaret Brent Middle, serving grades 6 through 8 in Mechanicsville, Maryland, as part of the St. Mary's County Public Schools district, which is ranked 7th out of 25 districts in the state.
Margaret Brent Middle has maintained a strong 4-star rating over the past three years, with its state percentile rank recently rising to the 77th percentile. The school's standout strength is in English Language Arts (ELA), where 60.1% of students are proficient, outperforming both the district (58.5%) and state (51.7%) averages across all grade levels. A notable anomaly is the school's Algebra I performance: while only 13.6% of 8th graders are proficient in general 8th-grade math, students taking Algebra I achieve a 44.8% proficiency rate, nearly double the district average and more than double the state average. This suggests that students tracked into advanced math are exceptionally well-prepared. However, overall math proficiency (31.7%) lags behind the district average (36%), and 8th-grade science proficiency (35.5%) is also below the district (40.1%). The school serves 878 students, with 38.5% eligible for free or reduced lunch, and has a student-teacher ratio of 16.4 to 1.
A significant concern is the school's chronic absenteeism rate of 36.1%, which is notably higher than the district average of 27.3%. Despite this challenge, the school still achieves above-average state rankings and strong ELA scores, indicating that present students may be highly engaged or that effective interventions are in place. The school spends $16,197 per student, a substantial amount that does not consistently translate into top-tier district performance in math and science, raising questions about resource allocation. Overall, Margaret Brent Middle offers strong ELA instruction and advanced math opportunities, but families should be aware of the high absenteeism rate and the need for improvement in general math and science outcomes.
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