Summary:
In zip code 21613, located in Cambridge, Maryland, there is a single high school, Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, which serves 811 students in grades 9-12 as part of the Dorchester County Public Schools district.
Cambridge-South Dorchester High School is facing significant challenges that are deeply interconnected. The most pressing issue is a chronic absenteeism rate of 57.5%, which is far above the district average of 37.1% and indicates that more than half of the students are missing substantial amounts of school. This directly correlates with alarmingly low academic performance, particularly in mathematics, where only 2.8% of students are proficient, compared to the state average of 27.1%. The school's graduation rate is 76.7%, and its dropout rate is a critical 20.6%, both significantly worse than district averages. While the school spends a substantial $20,934 per student, these funds are not translating into positive outcomes, suggesting that current resources are not effectively addressing the root causes of disengagement and low achievement.
Despite these struggles, there is a relative strength in English Language Arts, where 26.5% of students are proficient, though this is still well below the state average of 51.7%. The school's state ranking has been consistently in the bottom 13% of Maryland high schools, and its percentile rank has recently dropped from 13th to 8th, indicating a worsening trajectory. For parents, this data paints a clear picture of a school in urgent need of systemic intervention to improve student attendance, foundational math skills, and overall graduation rates.
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