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Harford County presents 2024–25 MCAP results showing gains in ELA, mixed performance in math
Summary
District officials told the board that ELA proficiency rose districtwide and that targeted curricular and intervention measures are credited with gains; math improvements were smaller and the district noted anticipated statewide assessment and sequencing changes.
Harford County Public Schools presented an executive summary of 2024–25 MCAP results at its Oct. 27 board meeting, highlighting districtwide gains in English language arts and noting more mixed outcomes in mathematics.
Katie Ridgeway, chief of staff, said the district prepared an extensive public report to give context beyond slide decks. "We provided an extensive report... that goes through in detail our performance as a whole district," Ridgeway said, introducing the accountability presentation.
Andy Wachter, assistant supervisor of accountability, reviewed highlights: districtwide ELA proficiency rose to about 60.2% (a 3.5-point gain over 2023–24) and several elementary and middle grades saw substantial gains; grade 10 recorded one of its largest increases. Wachter said the district "advanced from seventh to sixth place in the state" for proficiency averages and that HCPS outperformed similar counties at grades 3–8 in ELA.
In math, Wachter said growth was smaller and pointed to state-level misalignment of assessment and upcoming changes to math sequencing, which will complicate year-to-year comparisons. He noted that algebra-course sequencing (some students taking Algebra 1 in grade 7 or 8) alters how proficiency percentages appear in grade-based charts and that the state is planning an overhaul of math sequencing and assessments.
Board members raised questions about comparability when tests change and how the district distinguishes apples-to-apples comparisons. Ridgeway and Wachter said the public report documents when tests changed and indicates comparable spans; they also offered to provide deep dives or school-level dashboards on request.
District leaders framed the results as evidence of progress while acknowledging more work is needed: they cited early-literacy investments, targeted professional development and multi-tiered systems of support as drivers of gains and invited the board to request additional data breakdowns by school or subgroup.
The presentation closed with an invitation to schedule deeper dives and with the reminder that the full report is publicly available.
The board had no formal vote on the assessment report; members asked for follow-up briefings and school-level dashboards for further review.
