Maryland's public school systems offer quality primary and secondary education. Over 850,000 students are enrolled in 1,440 public schools throughout the state, with 56,100 seniors graduating in 2006. A majority of recent graduates intend to continue their education, with 73.2 percent looking forward to full time attendance at two or four-year colleges, 8.9 percent headed for part-time education, and 4.4 percent entering technical training schools.
Maryland's public schools are currently at the forefront nationwide in an ambitious school reform program. Marks of educational quality include:
- Maryland's student-teacher ratio has declined over the past five years;
- Six out of eight Maryland public school systems that were evaluated achieved Gold Medal or Blue Ribbon ratings according to Expansion Management magazine's 2007 Education Quotient;
- Based on Education Quotient data, the magazine ranked the Washington, D.C. (including suburban Maryland) and Baltimore metros first and fifth, respectively, as best public education systems for metropolitan areas in the U.S. with populations over one million; and
- Maryland ranks second nationally in the percentage of 2007 public high school graduates who scored at the mastery level on Advanced Placement (AP) exams, and second also in the percentage increase of students scoring at the mastery level. Further, the state ranks third in the overall percentage of public school students who took an AP exam in high school.
All school districts in the state offer: kindergarten, special education, adult continuing education, career-technical instruction, vocational rehabilitation, disadvantaged children’s programs, gifted and talented children’s programs, library services, and instructional TV.
Private and parochial schools are available in most communities. Some 184,000 students attend the state’s 1,260 private and parochial schools. Private international schools accommodate students whose first languages are French, German, and Japanese.
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Additional education data for states, Maryland counties and major metro areas can be found in the Comparisons Tool . |
