Summary:
Zip code 21108 in Millersville, Maryland, is home to a single large high school, Old Mill High, which serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Anne Arundel County Public Schools district.
Old Mill High is a large school with 1,832 students and a student-teacher ratio of 15.7:1. The school spends $16,502 per student, which is a significant amount, yet it faces major academic challenges. The most striking issue is a severe divide between subjects: while English Language Arts proficiency is near the state average at 52.6%, mathematics proficiency is critically low at just 4.3%—a massive 25 percentage points below the district average. This math crisis is confirmed by the Algebra I End of Course exam, where only 4.3% of students scored proficient. The school also has a high chronic absenteeism rate of 31.5%, over 50% higher than the district average, which likely contributes to the low math performance. With 56% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a majority low-income population, adding to the challenges.
Despite these difficulties, Old Mill High has maintained a stable graduation rate of 88.6%, nearly identical to the district's 88.9%, and its state ranking has remained in the lower-middle tier (38th to 43rd percentile) over the past three years, consistently earning a 2-star rating. The school performs adequately in English Language Arts, but the combination of single-digit math proficiency and high absenteeism indicates that immediate, targeted intervention is needed, particularly in mathematics instruction and student attendance. The high per-student spending raises questions about whether resources are being effectively allocated to address these critical areas.
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