Summary:
Zip code 21014 in Bel Air, Maryland, is home to two high-performing public middle schools, Southampton Middle and Bel Air Middle, both serving grades 6-8 as part of the Harford County Public Schools district.
Both schools are elite performers within their district, consistently ranking in the 87th percentile statewide, but they excel in different academic areas. Southampton Middle stands out for its exceptional English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency rate of 76.2%, the highest in the area, and has achieved the top state percentile rank (87th) in two of the last three years. In contrast, Bel Air Middle dominates in advanced math, with Algebra I proficiency at 62.2% and Geometry proficiency at 50.0%—rates that are dramatically higher than both the district and state averages. A key differentiator is chronic absenteeism: Bel Air Middle's rate of 11.7% is significantly lower than Southampton's 18.2% and the district average of 18.5%, suggesting stronger student engagement at Bel Air. Despite this, both schools maintain nearly identical overall state rankings, indicating that Southampton's instructional effectiveness may be particularly strong.
Notably, both schools significantly outperform district and state averages in nearly every subject, including 8th-grade science where both exceed 50% proficiency compared to the state's 30.9%. However, a common challenge emerges in 8th-grade math, where proficiency drops sharply to 4.9% at Southampton and 16.2% at Bel Air—a trend likely driven by advanced students taking Algebra I or Geometry instead. While Bel Air Middle spends $955 more per student ($17,162 vs. $16,207) and has a slightly lower student-teacher ratio (14.1 vs. 15.1), these resource advantages do not directly translate into a higher overall state rank, highlighting that factors like teaching quality and school culture are key drivers of success in this zip code.
Thank you for your feedback!