Hereford Middle, Monkton MD - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hereford Middle

Hereford Middle serves grades six through eight in the Hereford Zone of Baltimore County Public Schools, and it sits in a community that is distinct from the suburban sprawl around it. Monkton is a rural, preserved corner of northern Baltimore County, where large-lot homes, horse farms, and conservation easements define the landscape, not strip malls or subdivisions. The school is on Corbett Road, a standalone campus in the countryside, and families here are largely owner-occupiers with household incomes well above national averages and a very high rate of advanced degrees. The enrollment reflects that community: the student body is overwhelmingly white, and a modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Academically, Hereford Middle presents a split picture that a parent will want to study by subject rather than as a single school profile. In English language arts, the school posts strong proficiency rates across all three tested grade levels, with results that are notably above the state average. Science and social studies also show solid results. However, math is a different story. In sixth grade, just over four in ten students scored proficient. By seventh grade, that figure drops to roughly one in seven, and in eighth grade, only a very small group of students met the proficiency bar. The eighth-grade math testing pool itself is small, which may reflect students taking high school math courses that are assessed separately; the data show that in Algebra I, about a third of the tested group scored proficient, and in Geometry, half did. Still, for a middle school with an otherwise strong academic track record in other subjects, the math results are a soft spot that a parent may want to explore with the school directly.

The school has not reported chronic absenteeism rates or staffing data, so it is not possible to assess attendance patterns or student-to-teacher ratios from this record. Because Hereford Middle serves only grades six through eight, there is no graduation rate, and that gap is expected for a middle school.

The district context matters here. Baltimore County Public Schools has recently adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum rooted in the science of reading, a shift that will have reached Hereford Middle's incoming students. The district also approved boundary changes affecting the Hereford high school feeder system, effective in the 2025-2026 school year, which could alter which neighborhoods feed into Hereford Middle. A new district-wide cell phone policy restricts phone use during instructional time, and the Blueprint for Maryland's Future is bringing substantial additional state funding to expand pre-K, raise teacher salaries, and boost college and career readiness programs.

For a family considering this school, the academic takeaway is that Hereford Middle is a place where most students are hitting the mark in reading, writing, and science, but where math performance, particularly by seventh and eighth grade, is weak enough to warrant a closer look. The environment is low-density, rural, and car-dependent; there is no walkable downtown and no public library in Monkton. The NCR Trail runs through the area for biking and hiking, and Gunpowder Falls State Park is a major civic anchor. Housing is expensive by national standards, inventory is limited, and the area is deliberately preserved against development. A parent who values a tight-knit, rural school community with strong literacy outcomes but wants to understand how the school supports middle school math may want to ask directly about math instruction, intervention, and course placement.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 643%

School 43% · district not reported

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 714%

School 14% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 675%

School 75% · district not reported

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Grade 787%

School 87% · district not reported

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 51 pts above county median

Grade 874%

School 74% · district not reported

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

Science

Grade 863%

School 63% · district not reported

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 872%

School 72% · District 34% · ▲ 38 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 51 pts above county median

This schoolBaltimore County Public Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income53%Higher-income87%33 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income56%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income55%46 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income11%Higher-income45%34 pp gap