Anne Arundel County students’ performance on state tests improved in nearly all grades and subjects in 2025, but the district remains in the middle of the pack compared with other Maryland school systems, results released this week by the state show.

Fifty-six percent of the district’s students passed the reading exam, and 29% of students passed the math test. Third graders’ and seventh graders’ reading scores improved the most compared with last year. In math, proficiency rates for most tested grades jumped 2 to 4 percentage points.

“This data is evidence that the work we have done over the last three years is paying dividends,” Anne Arundel County Schools Superintendent Mark Bedell said in a statement. “But we need to be clear that we have a long way to go in our recovery from learning loss incurred during the pandemic.”

We scoured this year’s Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) results for other notable or surprising outcomes.

Impressive growth

Reading scores for students at Meade High and Meade Middle climbed 13.4 and 12.2 percentage points, respectively, in one year, the results show. The schools share a campus north of the military base where many Anne Arundel parents work. The big gains were even more impressive because reading scores at these schools hadn’t budged much since students resumed in-person learning after pandemic-era closures.

Roughly a third of Meade Middle students and nearly two-thirds of Meade High students are now proficient in reading.

Across the district, reading scores were up in more than half of schools, although in many cases the share of students who passed increased by only a few percentage points.

Crofton High shines

Nine of every 10 students at Crofton High passed the state test in reading, test results show. That achievement is even more impressive because the share of students proficient in reading has surged by nearly 20 percentage points since 2022.

Crofton High is also at the center of a redistricting plan Bedell unveiled this summer.

To address crowding, Bedell has proposed reassigning several hundred students who would otherwise attend Crofton High to Arundel High. Some Crofton families say they oppose the plan, which the district hopes to finalize by the end of the year.

Geometry up, algebra down

The share of Anne Arundel students who passed the geometry test increased 10 points to 44%. Meanwhile, the share of students who passed the Algebra I test dropped 8.3 percentage points to 22%.

Bedell attributed the decline to a change in course sequence implemented last year across the district that resulted in far fewer eighth graders taking the Algebra I test. Passing rates for the test are typically higher for middle schoolers.

“That shift … simply didn’t yield the results we believed it would, and I own that,” Bedell said in a statement.

Math bright spot

Anne Arundel students continue to struggle in math. Fewer than one-third passed the state test. But the results for the county’s third graders exceed the district average.

Forty-three percent of these students are proficient in math. These students started kindergarten in fall 2021 when area schools started to reopen for in-person learning after pandemic-era closures.

Banner data journalist Allan James Vestal contributed to this report.