Summary:
Zip code 21742 is home to a single high school, North Hagerstown High School, which serves grades 9 through 12 as part of the Washington County Public Schools district in Maryland, with a substantial enrollment of 1,583 students and a majority of students (58.18%) qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
North Hagerstown High School presents a mixed academic profile. The school is a standout in English Language Arts (ELA), consistently outperforming both its district and the state, with 57.6% proficiency in the 2025-2026 school year compared to the district's 55% and state's 51.7%. However, this strength is sharply contrasted by a significant weakness in mathematics, where only 16.9% of students were proficient in the same period, far below the district's 29.3% and state's 27.1%. The school also boasts a high graduation rate of 94.3% and a low dropout rate of 3.7%, yet this is contradicted by a very high chronic absenteeism rate of 35.9%, which is worse than the district average of 29.0%.
Key metrics show a student-teacher ratio of 19:1 and spending per student of $14,982. The school's state ranking has been volatile, moving from the 40th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 60th percentile in 2024-2025, then dropping to the 51st percentile in 2025-2026. The extreme disparity between ELA and math performance, combined with high absenteeism and fluctuating rankings, suggests that while the school excels in literacy, it faces significant challenges in math instruction and student attendance that may impact overall academic consistency.
Thank you for your feedback!