Stephen Decatur High

Berlin · MD · Worcester County Public Schools · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 4 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 1 physics · 5 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 63th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 77th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 93% (67th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Stephen Decatur High compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 63th percentile nationally with 4 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: Worcester Technical High School, Northern High, Digital Harbor High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

63th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
4
Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
257
≈18 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
12
3 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
6
1 physics · 5 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

77th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
212
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
14.5
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?

67th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
93%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
304
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)
7.1%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
34.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

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

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

44.0%
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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of Maryland-College Park

45%
admit rate
$11,809
in-state tuition/yr · $41,186 out-of-state
1370–1520
SAT 25–75 · ACT 32–35

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $15,678/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Maryland-College Park profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
3.6%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
53
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: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. 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
366:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
87
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 325 in 2021 to 371 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+14.2%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +0.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,462 students:

2025
1,465
2027
1,470
2029
1,475

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

Revenue upside

At $21,348 per student in district revenue, the 13 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $277,524/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.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Worcester Technical High School
Newark
Public 11.7
Northern High
Owings
Public 82.5 1,478 -3.6%
Digital Harbor High School
Baltimore
Public 100.0 1,359 -0.6%
Severn Run High School
Severn
Public 95.0 1,608
St. Charles High School
Waldorf
Public 94.3 1,617 +7.9%
Huntingtown High School
Huntingtown
Public 79.1 1,311 -3.5%
North Caroline High School
Ridgely
Public 52.6 1,238 +4.9%
Thomas Stone High School
Waldorf
Public 93.7 1,230 +4.7%

For Parents

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