Summary:
Zip code 21660 in Ridgely, Maryland, is served by two public schools within the Caroline County Public Schools district: North Caroline High School (grades 9-12) and Ridgely Elementary School (PK-5). The district itself holds a 3-star rating, ranking 15th out of 25 districts in Maryland.
The most notable finding is a dramatic "math cliff" between the two schools. Ridgely Elementary School outperforms the state average in math proficiency (31.1% vs. 27.1%), but North Caroline High School falls far behind (12.9% vs. 27.1%), with its Algebra I exam proficiency at just 5.6%. This suggests a systemic issue in math instruction between 5th and 9th grade. Conversely, the high school is a standout in English Language Arts (ELA), with 62.9% of students proficient—well above the district (50.8%) and state (51.7%)—while the elementary school lags in ELA at 41.5%. This inverse performance pattern raises questions about how students transition from below-average elementary ELA to above-average high school ELA.
Chronic absenteeism is a critical concern at North Caroline High School, where 34.5% of students are chronically absent, compared to the district average of 28.0%. This likely contributes to its 12.9% dropout rate and 83.0% graduation rate, both worse than district averages. Ridgely Elementary School spends more per student ($19,934 vs. $16,883) and has a lower student-teacher ratio (12.3 vs. 15.4), which may support its stronger math performance and lower absenteeism (27.0%). Grade-level inconsistencies at the elementary school, such as 4th graders excelling in math (43.9% proficient) while 5th graders fall below state averages (23.3%), indicate that targeted support for specific cohorts could be beneficial.
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