Harford County public schools have shown small improvements in English language arts and math proficiency over the last year, according to Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program data released by the State Board of Education Tuesday.

In comparison to last year, Harford saw a 0.2 percentage improvement in math proficiency, increasing from 24.6% in 2023 to 24.9% in 2024. For English language arts, Harford increased by 1.5% from last year going from 55.2% to 56.7%.

Since 2022, Harford’s math proficiency has increased by almost 5% and proficiency in English language arts has increased by nearly 7%.

Results from 2023 to 2024 remained relatively flat across the state, with the percentage of English and math test-takers scoring proficiently each rose by less than a percentage point, according to a news release from the Maryland State Department of Education.

Statewide, proficiency rates rose the most in Algebra I and II, growing by 2.8 and 3.4 percentage points, respectively. English proficiency among fifth-graders had the third-highest growth, at 2.4 percentage points. The biggest declines were seen in third-grade English and in geometry, where proficiency rates each fell by more than a percentage point.

About 48.4% of students scored proficiently in English language arts, and 24.1% scored proficiently in math across all grade levels.

MCAP is administered annually to third through eighth graders as well as to high schoolers, who take Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry and 10th grade English assessments. MCAP tests provide a statewide snapshot of the academic progress of Maryland public school students.