← MD High School Explorer

South Carroll High

Sykesville · MD · Carroll County Public Schools · Public

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖22 AP courses 🎓98% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 22 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 13 physics · 22 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 78th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 98% (Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How South Carroll High compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 22 AP courses.
  • LocallyMD sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Century High, Liberty High, Friends Meeting School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
📬

Follow South Carroll High

Get an email when South Carroll High's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
22
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
13
4 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
35
13 physics · 22 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

78th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
225
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
24.1
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
98%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
265
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
11.5%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
7.4%
Around the national average. Worth watching.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

20.8%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
23.8%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
222
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
233:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
60
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 232 in 2021 to 163 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-29.7%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +0.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 933 students:

2025
937
2027
944
2029
952

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $19,939 per student in district revenue, the 19 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $378,841/year in additional funding.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Century High
Sykesville
Public 2.9 1,101 -3.4%
Liberty High
Sykesville
Public 5.2 1,007 +0.5%
Friends Meeting School
Ijamsville
Private 6.6 98
Flexible Student Support
Westminster
Public 6.9 44
Gateway School
Westminster
Public 6.9 80 +15.9%
Mount Airy Christian Academy
Mount Airy
Private 7.1 388 +43.2%
Carroll County Career & Technology Center
Westminster
Public 7.1
Westminster High
Westminster
Public 7.3 1,477 +2.0%

Researching colleges for your kid at South Carroll High?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For school leaders looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →