Atholton High School

Posted: August 17, 2022

My son has a physical disability and extensive medical care. The nurses, guidance counselor, teacher, school staff and leadership have all been flexible in his schedule and make up work, empathic, solution oriented, and encourage the love of learning. My child is in all honors and GT classes and they help him flourish. He absolutely loves going to AH. He refuses special treatment and feels normal there. The students are also very kind and thoughtful kids.

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 17, 2022

Posted: August 10, 2021

Great school.
No complain
It is one of good school in this area

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: August 10, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Atholton’s “diversity” is soooo overstated. The school only has 8% of its students from low-income backgrounds and white and Asian students make up the over 60% of the student body. This school, like River Hill/Marriotts Ridge/Centennial/Glenelg, is ranked high because this school is NOT socio-economically diverse at all and most of the students are upper-middle-class or straight up rich. Atholton has lots of virtue-signaling “liberal” wealthy families who want to say they send their kids to a school that’s more diverse than River Hill or Glenelg but aren’t comfortable with sending their kids to Long Reach/Hammond/Wilde Lake/Oakland Mills and freaked out at the prospect of their kids being sent to one of these schools during the county-wide redistricting in 2019, while the folks who were redistricted to River Hill weren’t complaining at all. Atholton has wonderful teachers, academics, and programs, and your child will get a top-notch education there, but don’t send your children to this school thinking it doesn’t have the same problems that the other wealthy schools in HoCo have (helicopter parents, excessive competition, racism, snobbery, and “designer drugs”), because it absolutely does to some extent.

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: June 9, 2021

Posted: March 27, 2020

The teachers do not push kids to complete their homework to get credit. The teachers just let them slip.

Posted: March 27, 2020

Some of the teacher and counselors sometimes make the students feel unimportant.

Posted: March 27, 2020

Posted: March 27, 2020

Posted: March 27, 2020

Posted: March 27, 2020

There have been bullying reports that administration doesn't pay attention to and just "forget" about them.

Posted: March 27, 2020

well Im only in 10th grade but so far it has been okay, there could be more support from the administration. Other than that there are a lot of students there for you even if you don't know it. (speaking from experience).

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Posted: March 26, 2020

Caring, communicative school principle, educators, & coaches who challenge students to perform at their highest level without the overly stressful environment reportedly present in some of the other area high schools. Inclusive, supportive environment in & out of the classroom.

Posted: October 31, 2019

Posted: October 31, 2019

Love the diversity - a true representation of what a Howard County school should look like.

Posted: October 31, 2019

AP classes have tons of work, others seem more reasonable.

Posted: October 31, 2019

Posted: October 31, 2019

Posted: October 31, 2019

Posted: November 2, 2016

The homework load is heavy but manageable; students are expected to be responsible and complete assignments independently.

Posted: November 2, 2016

Some HCPSS schools are high achieving by virtue of uniformly affluent and homogeneous student bodies. By contrast, Atholton is high achieving while maintaining the economic and ethnic diversity reflective of Columbia and its ideals.

We have a junior at AHS and have been delighted with his experience. The principal is dedicated and caring, the students and teachers are supportive and accepting, and kids at any academic level can learn and be challenged. By the end of his junior year our child will have completed 9 AP classes (nearly a full year of college!) with all 4s and 5s.

AHS is also rich with activities; our child has enjoyed the robotics and math teams, cyber-security, table-tennis, and MTG clubs. Atholton is truly a Great School; we are grateful that our kids can attend.

Posted: April 15, 2015

Atholton High School is such a wonderful school academically and is very diverse. The students are very friendly and actually care about their education. Many of the students were going on to 4 year schools, some being prestigious. The faculty are very qualified and skilled. As a student of color (black male) I felt very comfortable going to this school and felt like the staff actually cared about my education. I highly recommend this to all students and families.

Posted: May 16, 2014

Easy transition, friendly kids, safe environment, plenty of opportunities to find your niche in sports and clubs. We are a military family that has moved often and atholton did not disappoint. Worth the higher housing costs! Your kids will have a good education and easily fit in with welcoming admin & parents. Diverse, articulate, kind, fun student body. It's been two years, one child entered as a freshman and the other a junior, two different personalities and interests, great choice for both.

Posted: October 22, 2013

I currently have one child who is a senior at Atholton. Most of the GT and AP classes are fast paced and they expect the students to come to class knowing most of the material and all of the basics. It's not just Atholton, but prevalent among all the schools, through all the grades, that the focus is on testing and on teaching. The kids are expected to learn at home with the parents, that is why parent participation is so emphasized. The JROTC program is one of the better programs in the county. However, in many instances, it is very disorganized. Although the seargents and colonel are exemplary people, they tend to reward the outstanding performers and leave the rest alone as long as they don't make waves. Their sports program was very disappointing. I wanted my child to to join a team to learn the sport and to feel a sense of belonging but instead, they only chose the "outstanding" player. They are worse than the professional teams. The coaches only showed interest and inclusion for those they deemed are or will be stars. I must agree with some of the others in that there are many lazy teachers, (I use the term loosely). But some are actually excellent!

Posted: September 21, 2013

I have two daughters currently attending Atholton. Both are very smart, taking full loads of GT and AP classes. Unfortunately, the teachers don't seem to keep up their end of the job. Oldest daughter was very excited to take (GT) biology and chemistry, but teachers who only read their slides every day and don't know how to explain things just totally ruined her on science. Her math classes haven't been much better. Some of the teachers must be better, but why would the GT and AP classes have such bad teachers? I hope my younger one has better luck. But AHS and the teachers should be ashamed at the poor quality teaching.

Posted: August 11, 2013

The school has a diverse group of students that come from various econonmic backrounds. It is made up of good families who care for their childs education. It has active parent groups. Students are non judgmental, caring and driven without the the bias we may see in other schools. It is a comfortable environment that promotes education and well rounded students. People feel at home no matter who they are. Great school.

Posted: March 23, 2013

terrible school with a biased and lazy administration and guidance staff. Teacher tend not to give students their full effort. If you are a student at this school, you will be judged on your looks and race.

Posted: May 20, 2012

I have had 2 children graduate recently from AHS. Reading the other reviews I agree the school may overstress sports, but the students have alot of school spirit and parent are very involved! Both my children were accepted into very a very respectable university and were academically prepared to meet the challenge. They both have very fond memories of their high school years, and so do I.