City: Towson, MD

Category: Education

Telephone: (410) 887-5555

Address: 6901 North Charles St.

Description: The Baltimore County Public School System is the 26th-largest in the United States. It serves 103,643 students (as of 9/30/2008). Choices of study include many options outside traditional academic areas, from carpentry to quilting and everything in between. The county uses a program called Values Education and Ethical Behavior that seeks to address values and ethics issues in the curricula and to speak to their practical application. The program is not a laundry list of values and ethics, but, as the county schools’ yearly report noted, a “process of inquiry to help students pose and understand . . . ethical questions and dilemmas.” A relatively unusual program, it covers everything from encouraging students to be honest and compassionate to questions about scientific discovery and what constitutes responsible citizenship. Of the county’s 172 schools, programs, and centers, 29 are magnet schools (7 each at the elementary and middle school levels, and 15 at the high school level). These magnet schools offer special programs that draw students from a particular geographic area. At the elementary levels, it is area alone that determines if your child may enter a particular magnet school. At the middle school level, entrance is determined by prior academic achievement, student interest, and geographic location. At the high school level, geographic area still plays a part in most cases, but that area is either countywide or a large general area, such as northern Baltimore County. And if for some reason the student is not in the chosen area but has the qualifications and desire for the education offered at the site, then he or she may be admitted by special permission. Magnet programs of study at the high school level include the Lansdowne Academy of Finance, the Kenwood High School Sports Science Academy, and the Towson High School Law and Public Policy Program. The county also has five alternative schools for students with special needs including one that serves students between the ages of 3 years and 21 years who have multiple disabilities. Academically, Baltimore County offers a relatively competitive environment, which includes advanced placement courses and testing. Using the state standards for performance, Baltimore County matched or exceeded state standards in 97 percent of the areas measured. Baltimore County spends $9,500 on each pupil annually, and the student-teacher ratio is 22 to 1. The average dropout rate is 4.1 percent.