Summary:
Zip code 21234 in Baltimore, Maryland, is served by two public middle schools, Parkville Middle and Pine Grove Middle, both part of the Baltimore County Public Schools district, which holds a 2-star rating and ranks 18th out of 25 districts in Maryland.
Parkville Middle is the standout school in this area, outperforming Pine Grove Middle across nearly every academic metric. Parkville ranks in the 51st percentile (3 stars) for the 2025-2026 school year, placing it in the top half of Maryland middle schools, while Pine Grove ranks in the 28th percentile (1 star). Parkville also achieves higher English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency at 52.1%, which is above the state average of 51.7%, compared to Pine Grove's 32.7%. Math proficiency is a challenge for both schools, with Parkville at 13.4% and Pine Grove at 11.1%, both well below the state average of 27.1%. Notably, Parkville has a lower chronic absenteeism rate (22.9% vs. 26.3%) and a lower percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunch (45.11% vs. 53.36%), indicating a slightly more advantaged student population.
A key finding is that spending does not equal performance: Pine Grove Middle receives $982 more per student ($18,132 vs. $17,150) and has a lower student-teacher ratio (15.2 vs. 16.8) than Parkville, yet underperforms significantly. Both schools show a large gap between ELA and math proficiency, with Parkville having a 38.7 percentage point gap and Pine Grove a 21.6 point gap. Interestingly, both schools perform better in advanced math courses like Algebra I and Geometry than in standard grade-level math, with Pine Grove excelling particularly in these areas. Chronic absenteeism is a systemic issue, with nearly a quarter of students in the zip code chronically absent, likely contributing to the low math scores.
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