Schools in Zip Code 21152

Zip code 21152 is home to a single school, Sparks Elementary, a public school serving grades Kindergarten through 5th grade with 509 students, and it stands as an exceptional outlier within the Baltimore County Public Schools district.

Sparks Elementary is a top-tier school that dramatically outperforms its district and state averages. Despite its district ranking in the 28th percentile statewide, the school consistently ranks in the top 3% of all Maryland elementary schools, earning a perfect 5-star rating for three consecutive years. In the 2025-2026 school year, its math proficiency rate of 66.9% was over three times higher than the district average of 21.9%, and its English Language Arts proficiency of 84.5% nearly doubled the district's 46.1%. The school also boasts a very low chronic absenteeism rate of 8.6% compared to the district's 25.6%, and a low free/reduced lunch rate of 10.41%, indicating a high socio-economic status student body.

While the school's performance is exceptional across all subjects and grades, there was a slight performance dip in the 2025-2026 school year, with its state ranking declining from 9th to 25th and math proficiency dropping from 73.7% to 66.9%. This could be a normal variation, but it is a trend worth monitoring. Overall, Sparks Elementary is a clear standout, serving as a prime example of a high-opportunity school within a larger, lower-performing district, with per-student spending of $18,538 and a student-teacher ratio of 15.5:1.