Summary:
In zip code 21660, there is one high school, North Caroline High School, serving grades 9-12 in Ridgely, Maryland, as part of the Caroline County Public Schools district.
North Caroline High School is a school of stark contrasts. It excels in English Language Arts (ELA), with a 62.9% proficiency rate that significantly outperforms both the district (50.8%) and the state (51.7%). However, it struggles profoundly in mathematics, where only 12.9% of all students are proficient—roughly half the district rate and less than half the state rate. This is most dramatic in Algebra I, where just 5.6% of students are proficient. The school has a positive ranking trajectory, improving from the 45th percentile (2 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 59th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-2026, ranking 93rd out of 227 schools statewide. The graduation rate is 83.0%, below the district average of 85.7%.
Two critical challenges stand out. First, chronic absenteeism is high at 34.5%, well above the district's 28.0%, and the dropout rate of 12.9% is also higher than the district's 10.2%. Second, despite spending $16,883 per student—a substantial investment—math outcomes remain very low, suggesting a need for targeted intervention in math instruction. With 62.04% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a predominantly low-income population. The student-teacher ratio is 15.4 to 1. Addressing math performance and chronic absenteeism are the most critical levers for improving overall outcomes at North Caroline High School.
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