Summary:
Zip code 21132, covering the Pylesville area, is home to a single high school, North Harford High, which serves grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 1,204 students as part of the Harford County Public Schools district.
North Harford High presents a mixed but improving profile. The school has shown a strong upward trend in its state ranking, climbing from a 1-star rating in the 2023-2024 school year to a 3-star rating (80th out of 227 Maryland high schools) in 2025-2026. It boasts a high graduation rate of 94.7% and a relatively low chronic absenteeism rate of 16.7%, both better than district averages. The school also excels in English Language Arts (ELA), with 72.6% of students proficient, significantly outpacing the state average of 51.7%. However, this academic strength is sharply contrasted by a critical weakness in mathematics, where overall math proficiency is just 10%, far below the state average of 27.1%. Geometry proficiency is at 0%, and Algebra I proficiency is only 6.8%, though Algebra II proficiency is a notable exception at 44%.
The most striking takeaway is the extreme gap between ELA and math performance, suggesting a need for targeted math intervention. The "Algebra II anomaly" indicates that students who reach that level are highly successful, but the pipeline from Algebra I is failing. With a per-student spending of $16,906 and a relatively low free/reduced lunch rate of 23.75%, the school has resources to address this challenge. The rapid improvement in overall ranking and strong graduation rate suggest effective leadership is driving positive change, making the math deficiency the primary area for future focus.
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