Summary:
Zip code 21550, serving the Oakland, MD area, is home to a single high school, Southern Garrett High School, which serves grades 7 through 12 with a total enrollment of 870 students and is part of the Garrett County Public Schools district.
Southern Garrett High School has shown remarkable improvement in its state ranking, jumping from the 20th percentile (1-star rating) in the 2023-2024 school year to the 56th percentile (3-star rating) in the 2025-2026 school year. The school boasts a strong graduation rate of 93.7% and a student-teacher ratio of 12.6:1, with per-student spending at $20,311. However, a notable concern is a high chronic absenteeism rate of 32.4%, which is significantly above the district average of 22.9%, creating a paradox where most students still graduate despite missing substantial school time. Overall test proficiency in Mathematics (26.6%) and English Language Arts (49.8%) for the 2025-2026 school year are slightly below both the district and state averages.
A standout strength is the school's 8th-grade math proficiency, which at 42.3% is over four times higher than the state average of 9.6%. This success does not carry over to higher-level math, as proficiency in Algebra I (18.5%) and Algebra II (15.9%) falls below state averages. Additionally, the Algebra I data shows a dramatic swing from 2.4% proficiency in 2024-2025 to 18.5% in 2025-2026, which may warrant further investigation. While the school excels at building foundational math skills in middle school, it struggles to maintain that advantage in advanced high school courses, and the high spending per student has not yet translated into top-tier academic performance across all subjects.
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