Summary Perspective
The Northwest Cluster comprises 11 schools in Germantown and Gaithersburg serving 8,759 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Northwest High School, the cluster's single high school destination, enrolled 2,386 students in grades 9 through 12. Three middle schools serve grades 6 through 8: Kingsview Middle with 922 students, Lakelands Park Middle with 1,014 students, and Roberto W. Clemente Middle with 866 students. Seven elementary schools serve the cluster, ranging from Germantown Elementary at 318 students to Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary at 707 students.
The feeder chain is not a single straight line. Six of the eleven schools are shared with neighboring clusters because MCPS splits articulation at several buildings. Roberto W. Clemente Middle, Clopper Mill Elementary, Germantown Elementary, and Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary are shared with the Seneca Valley cluster. Lakelands Park Middle and Diamond Elementary are shared with the Quince Orchard cluster. Enrollment in these six shared schools totals 3,880 students in 2023-24, according to NCES. Students attending the same elementary or middle school building may be assigned to different high schools depending on where within the school's attendance zone they live. A family's address, not the school building their child attends, determines the high school assignment.
Capacity utilization varies across the cluster, according to MCPS. Two elementary schools exceed their program capacity. Germantown Elementary shows 316 students against 279 seats, a 113.3 percent utilization rate. Diamond Elementary shows 662 students against 650 seats, a 101.8 percent utilization rate. Northwest High School operates at 97.2 percent utilization, with 2,204 students against a capacity of 2,268. At the other end, Great Seneca Creek Elementary operates at 78.8 percent utilization with approximately 125 available seats, and Roberto W. Clemente Middle operates at 79.7 percent utilization with approximately 232 available seats.
Two boundary processes are active and touch this cluster. The Board of Education adopted secondary-school boundary changes known as Modified Option H on March 26, 2026, according to MCPS. These changes reassign the Brown Station Elementary attendance area to Clemente Middle and Northwest High School, move the Diamond Elementary area previously assigned to Northwest High School to Quince Orchard High School, bring the Germantown Elementary area previously assigned to Seneca Valley High School into Northwest High School, and bring the S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary area east of Gunners Lake into Northwest High School. Implementation phases in by grade beginning in the 2027-28 school year, reaching full grades 9-12 implementation in 2029-30.
The second process is the Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study, a two-phase review that began with a Board of Education planning presentation on July 16, 2026, according to MCPS. All Northwest Cluster elementary and middle school attendance areas are in scope. No Northwest Cluster school has been named as a closure candidate as of July 26, 2026. The Superintendent is scheduled to present closure and consolidation recommendations in February or March 2027, with Board adoption of final boundary assignments scheduled for May 2028 and approved changes taking effect in the 2029-30 school year.
The Board of Education has also adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, according to Bethesda Magazine. Under this model, high schools are organized into six regions and the consortium lottery ends. The Northwest Cluster is not part of either consortium, and assignment here remains address-based under the regional model.
Key takeaways for families
The Northwest Cluster enrolled 8,759 students across 11 schools in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The cluster includes one high school, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools in Germantown and Gaithersburg.
Six of the eleven schools are shared with neighboring clusters, with 3,880 students in shared schools in 2023-24, according to NCES. Students at the same building may feed into different high school clusters depending on their home address within the attendance zone.
Northwest High School enrolled 2,386 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2023-24, according to NCES. Families in the Northwest attendance area are assigned to the school by address, with no lottery or choice process.
MSDE assigned four stars to Northwest High School for SY2024, as documented in the school's SY25 improvement plan. The school earned 62.5 of 100 possible Maryland School Report Card points and set a target of at least 67.9 points to maintain the rating.
Two elementary schools exceed capacity, according to MCPS. Germantown Elementary operated at 113.3 percent utilization and Diamond Elementary at 101.8 percent utilization, using a 2025-2026 baseline. Northwest High School operated at 97.2 percent utilization.
The Board of Education adopted secondary-school boundary changes on March 26, 2026, according to MCPS. The changes reassign attendance areas into and out of the Northwest Cluster, with implementation phasing in by grade starting in 2027-28 and reaching full grades 9-12 in 2029-30.
The Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study places all cluster elementary and middle school attendance areas in scope, according to MCPS. No Northwest Cluster school has been named as a closure candidate as of July 26, 2026. Board adoption of final boundary assignments is scheduled for May 2028.
Northwest High School offers 29 Advanced Placement courses, according to the school's AP registration page. No International Baccalaureate program is hosted at the building.
The Global Ecology House at Poolesville High School is a countywide magnet option for students in this cluster. MCPS shifted admissions from criteria-based selection to a lottery, as reported by Poolesville Pulse in 2025.
The Board of Education adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, according to Bethesda Magazine. The Northwest Cluster is not part of either consortium, and address-based assignment to Northwest High School continues under the regional model.
Chronic absenteeism affected 27.6 percent of students at Northwest High School during the 2024 school year, according to the school's SY25 improvement plan. The plan set a goal to reduce that figure to 20 percent.
The Montgomery County Council appropriated $2,457,319,156 in local funding for MCPS for FY2027, which was $161,540,160 above the state Maintenance of Effort floor, according to MCPS.
At a glance
The Northwest Cluster comprises 11 schools serving 8,759 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The cluster includes one high school, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools. All 11 schools are located in Germantown (ZIP code 20874) or Gaithersburg (ZIP code 20878) in Montgomery County.
Enrollment figures are from the NCES Common Core of Data for 2023-24. Capacity and utilization figures are published by MCPS in the FY2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program, using a 2025-2026 baseline. Utilization is calculated by MCPS using its own enrollment count, which differs from NCES enrollment due to different collection periods. Two elementary schools exceed their program capacity: Germantown Elementary at 113.3 percent and Diamond Elementary at 101.8 percent. Northwest High School operates at 97.2 percent utilization. Great Seneca Creek Elementary has the most available seats relative to capacity, at 78.8 percent utilization.
Six of the eleven schools are shared with neighboring clusters because MCPS splits articulation at several buildings. Roberto W. Clemente Middle, Clopper Mill Elementary, Germantown Elementary, and Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary are shared with the Seneca Valley cluster. Lakelands Park Middle and Diamond Elementary are shared with the Quince Orchard cluster. Enrollment in these six shared schools totals 3,880 students in 2023-24, according to NCES. Because shared-school enrollment is counted in full for each cluster it serves, totals across clusters overlap and must not be summed.
MSDE assigned four stars to Northwest High School for SY2024, as documented in the school's SY25 improvement plan. The school earned 62.5 of 100 possible Maryland School Report Card points during the 2024 school year. The school's SY25 plan set a target of at least 67.9 points to maintain the four-star rating.
How to read Maryland accountability and star ratings
MSDE publishes a one-to-five star rating for each public school as part of the Maryland School Report Card. The rating is based on a composite points total out of 100, according to the MSDE Report Card User Guide published in 2024. For high schools, the indicators include academic achievement, academic progress, English language proficiency, school quality and student success, and chronic absenteeism. The rating draws on the specific indicators MSDE selected and weighted under its state accountability plan.
The rating does not capture every dimension of a school's operation. It does not include measures such as student growth for high schools, because Maryland's Student Growth Percentile indicator applies to grades 4 through 8, not to grade 9 through 12 high schools. The different indicator sets mean that the star ratings of elementary, middle, and high schools are not directly comparable, because they are built from different measures. A change in the rating from one year to the next may reflect changes in student performance, changes in the state's methodology, or both. The rating does not measure curriculum quality, teacher effectiveness, school climate, or college readiness in isolation. It is a composite measure that combines multiple indicators into a single score, which MSDE then translates into a star count.
MSDE assigned four stars to Northwest High School for SY2024, as documented in the school's SY25 improvement plan. Northwest High School earned 62.5 of 100 possible Maryland School Report Card points during the 2024 school year. The school's SY25 plan set a target of at least 67.9 points to maintain the four-star rating. MSDE published the 2025 Maryland School Report Card, which provides state, district, and school-level results.
The star rating is an action the state took, not a property of the school. MSDE assigns ratings based on the indicators it collects and the weighting it applies under its accountability framework. A school does not hold a star rating as a characteristic. The state assigns it for a specific school year based on the data collected during that period.
How this cluster fits into MCPS
MCPS is a single county-wide school system fiscally dependent on Montgomery County government, where the County Council appropriates the operating budget under Maryland's Maintenance of Effort requirement. The MCPS website provides the system's governance and budget documents.
The Northwest Cluster is one of several high school attendance areas within MCPS. It is not a separate school district and carries no NCES LEA ID of its own. The cluster exists as an organizational unit for assigning students to Northwest High School by residential address. Families living within the cluster's attendance boundary are assigned to Northwest High School. They do not participate in a choice or lottery process, because the Northwest Cluster is not part of either the Downcounty Consortium or the Northeast Consortium, the two areas of MCPS where students select among multiple high schools rather than receiving a single assignment.
The cluster spans two places in Montgomery County. The majority of its schools sit in Germantown, a census-designated place in the 20874 ZIP code. Northwest High School itself is in Germantown, as are five of the seven elementary schools and two of the three middle schools. Three schools are in Gaithersburg, an incorporated city in the 20878 ZIP code: Lakelands Park Middle, Darnestown Elementary, and Diamond Elementary. The Maryland State Archives lists both Germantown and Gaithersburg among the places of Montgomery County.
The cluster comprises 11 schools serving 8,759 students in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That figure includes one high school, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools. Northwest High School enrolls 2,386 students. The three middle schools -- Kingsview Middle with 922 students, Lakelands Park Middle with 1,014 students, and Roberto W. Clemente Middle with 866 students -- together serve 2,802 students. The seven elementary schools enroll 3,571 students combined, ranging from Germantown Elementary at 318 to Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary at 707.
A defining structural feature of this cluster is shared articulation. Six of the cluster's 11 schools also feed one or more other high school clusters, because MCPS splits articulation at several buildings rather than assigning entire schools to a single destination. Roberto W. Clemente Middle, Clopper Mill Elementary, Germantown Elementary, and Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary are shared with the Seneca Valley cluster. Lakelands Park Middle and Diamond Elementary are shared with the Quince Orchard cluster. The enrollment in these six shared schools totals 3,880 students in 2023-24, according to NCES. Because MCPS includes shared schools in full within each cluster they serve, enrollment totals across clusters overlap and must not be summed to produce a county-wide figure.
In practical terms, shared articulation means that students attending the same elementary or middle school building may be assigned to different high schools depending on where within the school's attendance zone they live. A family's address, not the elementary or middle school building their child attends, determines the high school assignment. This is why two students living on different streets but attending the same elementary school can receive different high school assignments within the Northwest Cluster and its neighboring clusters.
The Board of Education that governs MCPS has seven members elected to four-year terms under a mixed election structure, with the next election scheduled for June 23, 2026, according to MCPS. The Board governs the entire county-wide system from its headquarters in Rockville. The Northwest Cluster does not have its own governing body, its own budget, or its own taxing authority. Administrative decisions about curriculum, staffing, capital projects, and attendance boundaries for schools in this cluster are made through the central MCPS administrative structure.
Under Maryland law, as codified in MD Code, Education Article section 7-102, the geographic boundary of MCPS is coterminous with Montgomery County. Changing the district boundary would require action by the Maryland General Assembly. There is no mechanism for the school board or county alone to redraw school district boundaries, and a municipal boundary change would not move MCPS boundaries. The Northwest Cluster, like every cluster in the system, operates entirely within this county-wide framework.
Academic outcomes at these schools
The Northwest cluster enrolled 8,759 students across 11 schools in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The cluster comprises one high school, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools. NCES reports that 35.3% of students in the cluster qualified for free or reduced-price meals in 2023-24. The racial and ethnic composition NCES recorded for that year was 25.4% Hispanic, 24.0% Black, 22.9% Asian, 21.2% White, 5.9% two or more races, 0.3% American Indian, and 0.1% Pacific Islander.
Six of the 11 schools in this cluster are shared with other clusters, according to NCES. MCPS splits articulation at several buildings, meaning students at the same elementary or middle school may feed into different high school clusters depending on where they live within the attendance zone. Enrollment in those shared schools totaled 3,880 in 2023-24. Because shared-school enrollment is counted in full for each cluster it serves, the totals across clusters overlap and must not be summed to produce a countywide figure.
Maryland School Report Card and star rating
MSDE assigned four stars to Northwest High School for SY2024, as documented in the school's SY25 improvement plan. The Maryland School Report Card, published by MSDE, rates each public school on a one-to-five star scale based on a composite points total out of 100. The rating draws on multiple indicators that vary by school level. For high schools, the indicators include academic achievement, academic progress, English language proficiency, school quality and student success, and chronic absenteeism, according to the MSDE Report Card User Guide published in 2024. Four stars indicates the school earned a points total in the range MSDE associates with that rating. The rating does not capture every dimension of a school's operation. It reflects the specific indicators MSDE selected and weighted under its state accountability plan, and it does not include measures such as student growth for high schools.
Northwest High School earned 62.5 of 100 possible Maryland School Report Card points during the 2024 school year, according to the school's SY25 plan. The same plan set a target of at least 67.9 points to maintain the four-star rating. MSDE published the 2025 Maryland School Report Card, which provides state, district, and school-level results.
Student growth
No student growth result applies to Northwest High School. Maryland's growth indicator, the Student Growth Percentile, measures how much individual students progress relative to their academic peers. MSDE reports this indicator for grades 4 through 8, not for grade 9 through 12 high schools, according to the MSDE Report Card User Guide published in 2024. The state's accountability system for high schools therefore relies on other measures, such as graduation rate and academic achievement, rather than year-to-year growth percentiles. A key indicator used to evaluate elementary and middle schools in the cluster does not appear in the high school's report card.
Chronic absenteeism
Chronic absenteeism is one of the indicators MSDE uses in the School Report Card. MSDE defines a student as chronically absent when the student misses 10% or more of enrolled school days, whether the absences are excused or unexcused, according to the MSDE Report Card definitions. The school's SY25 plan cited a SY2024 baseline showing that 72.4% of Northwest High School students were not chronically absent. That figure means 27.6% of students were chronically absent during the 2024 school year. The SY25 plan set a goal to increase the share of students who were not chronically absent from 72.4% to 80%.
School improvement designations
MSDE publishes a list of schools designated for Targeted Support and Improvement under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act framework. MSDE's 2025 TSI data file provides the current list of designated schools. MCPS also publishes information about schools designated for Additional Targeted Support and Improvement on its website. The Maryland State Board of Education published a document in 2023 describing the Comprehensive Support and Improvement and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement frameworks.
Advanced coursework and assessments
Northwest High School offers Advanced Placement courses, with registration information published on the MCPS website. MCPS publishes system-wide reports on AP and IB exam enrollment, participation, and performance. The 2024 report, released by MCPS in 2025, covers AP and IB exam participation and performance across the district. A separate MCPS report from 2025 covers SAT and ACT participation and performance for 2024. These reports provide district-level context for examining participation rates and outcomes at individual schools.
MCPS maintains an online course bulletin that lists available courses across the district. The district also offers online AP courses through its Department of Online Learning. MCPS publishes an enriched programs policy that governs how enriched and specialized courses are structured and accessed. MCPS also offers dual enrollment partnerships that allow high school students to take college courses.
Specialized programs at Northwest High School
Northwest High School houses the Global Ecology Program, a magnet program that MCPS describes as focusing on environmental science and policy. Admissions to the Global Ecology Program shifted from criteria-based selection to a lottery system, as reported by Poolesville Pulse in 2025. Under the previous criteria-based system, applicants were evaluated on academic measures. Under the lottery system, seats are filled through a random selection among applicants rather than through competitive evaluation.
The U.S. Department of Education named Northwest High School a Green Ribbon School in 2015. The Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools that demonstrate progress in reducing environmental impact and costs, improving health and wellness, and providing effective environmental education. The recognition is a federal award, not a state academic accountability measure.
Pandemic context for assessment data
Statewide standardized testing was waived in 2020 when the federal government excused required assessments due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This created a gap in the assessment data series, making direct year-over-year comparisons across the pandemic period unreliable. Data collected from 2021 onward reflects a period of recovery and adjustment in both instruction and assessment. The NCES Common Core of Data for 2023-24 provides the most recent federal enrollment and demographic figures for the cluster.
Regional programs model
The MCPS Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model that takes effect in the 2027-28 school year. Under this model, high schools will be organized into six regions, and the consortium lottery system used in the Downcounty and Northeast consortia will end, according to Bethesda Magazine reporting in 2026. The Northwest cluster is not part of either consortium. Students in this attendance area are assigned to Northwest High School by address. For the Northwest cluster, the regional model reorganizes how specialized programs are accessed rather than changing address-based assignment to the cluster's high school. MCPS published a letter in 2026 describing the transition to the regional model.
District-level reporting
MCPS publishes an annual report for 2024-2025 that provides district-level information on academic performance, operations, and initiatives. The MCPS At-a-Glance report for Northwest High School provides school-specific data. MCPS also publishes a parent document on mathematics grouping, dated May 2026, that describes how students are placed into math courses across the district. MyMCMedia reported that 158 county students were named National Merit Semifinalists, providing county-level context for academic recognition across MCPS.
Variation between the schools in this cluster
The eleven schools assigned to the Northwest cluster differ in enrollment, grade configuration, and articulation structure, according to the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for 2023-24. Six of the eleven schools are shared with at least one other cluster, meaning their enrollment is counted in full in this cluster's total and also appears in the totals for Seneca Valley or Quince Orchard clusters. This overlap is a structural feature of how MCPS draws attendance boundaries, not a duplication error.
Enrollment at the elementary level ranges from 318 students at Germantown Elementary to 707 at Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary, according to NCES for 2023-24. Between those endpoints, Clopper Mill Elementary enrolls 460, Darnestown Elementary enrolls 354, Great Seneca Creek Elementary enrolls 510, Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary enrolls 569, and Diamond Elementary enrolls 653. The largest elementary school is more than twice the size of the smallest, a ratio of roughly 2.2 to 1.
Grade configurations also vary among the elementary schools. Three schools, Clopper Mill, Germantown, and Dr. Ronald E. McNair, include pre-kindergarten and serve grades PK through 5. Four schools, Great Seneca Creek, Matsunaga, Darnestown, and Diamond, begin at kindergarten and serve grades KG through 5. This difference in entry grade means that the cluster's elementary schools do not all serve the same age range, and the availability of pre-kindergarten depends on which attendance boundary a family lives within.
At the middle school level, enrollment ranges from 866 at Roberto W. Clemente Middle to 1,014 at Lakelands Park Middle, with Kingsview Middle at 922. All three serve grades 6 through 8. The spread across middle schools is narrower than at the elementary level. The largest middle school exceeds the smallest by 148 students, or roughly 17 percent, compared with the 389-student gap between the largest and smallest elementary schools.
Northwest High School enrolls 2,386 students in grades 9 through 12, according to NCES for 2023-24. It is the only high school in the cluster and the destination for all students who complete the feeder pattern from the non-shared schools. Students at shared middle schools may instead feed into Seneca Valley or Quince Orchard high schools, depending on their home address within the school's attendance area.
The shared articulation pattern is a defining structural feature of this cluster. Roberto W. Clemente Middle, Clopper Mill Elementary, Germantown Elementary, and Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary are shared with the Seneca Valley cluster. Lakelands Park Middle and Diamond Elementary are shared with the Quince Orchard cluster. In total, 3,880 of the 8,759 students counted in this cluster attend a school that also feeds another cluster, according to NCES for 2023-24. MCPS splits articulation at these buildings, meaning that two students attending the same elementary or middle school can be assigned to different high school clusters based on their home address. The cluster-level enrollment figure of 8,759 therefore includes students who will not attend Northwest High School, and the same students are counted in the enrollment totals of neighboring clusters.
Five of the eleven schools are exclusive to the Northwest cluster. These are Northwest High School, Kingsview Middle, Great Seneca Creek Elementary, Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary, and Darnestown Elementary. Their combined enrollment is 4,879 students, or roughly 56 percent of the cluster total. The remaining 44 percent of enrollment is in schools shared with neighboring clusters.
The cluster spans two postal designations. Eight of the eleven schools are in Germantown, ZIP code 20874, and three, Lakelands Park Middle, Darnestown Elementary, and Diamond Elementary, are in Gaithersburg, ZIP code 20878. Both locations are within Montgomery County, and school assignments follow MCPS attendance boundaries rather than municipal lines.
At the cluster level, NCES reports demographic composition for 2023-24. The agency reports that 35.3 percent of students qualified for free or reduced-price meals. The racial and ethnic composition was 24.0 percent Black, 25.4 percent Hispanic, 22.9 percent Asian, 21.2 percent White, 5.9 percent two or more races, 0.3 percent American Indian, and 0.1 percent Pacific Islander. These figures aggregate across all eleven schools and describe the cluster as a whole. They do not represent the composition of any individual school, and variation among schools is not captured in a cluster-level aggregate.
On academic outcomes, MCPS reported a combined SAT score of 1,129 for Northwest High School for the 2021-22 school year, with 570 in evidence-based reading and writing and 559 in math, at a participation rate of 59.2 percent, according to the district's own Schools at a Glance publication. The SAT is taken by students in grade 11, and the participation rate indicates that roughly 59 percent of eligible students took the test.
Montgomery Community Media, reporting the National Merit Scholarship Corporation's county list for the 2025 competition, identified one National Merit Semifinalist at Northwest High School. The semifinalist designation was announced on September 11, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Education named Northwest High School a Green Ribbon School in 2015. The recognition acknowledges practices related to environmental impact, health, and sustainability. This is a historical designation and does not reflect a current-year evaluation.
Advanced academics and pathway access
Northwest High School offers 29 Advanced Placement courses, according to the school's AP registration page. No International Baccalaureate program is hosted at the building. Students who want an IB diploma must apply to a countywide magnet at another school.
Three selective-admissions programs serve students who live in the Northwest Cluster attendance area. Each operates at a host school outside the cluster, and each admits students through a competitive application rather than by address.
The Global Ecology House at Poolesville High School is a countywide option. Applicants must be enrolled in Algebra I or higher by grade 8, according to the MCPS program page. Admission criteria include written statements, grades and coursework, test scores, interests, and achievements. A May 13, 2026 article in the Poolesville Pulse reported that MCPS shifted Global Ecology admissions from criteria-based selection to a lottery. The lottery considers choice ranking, base-area school, and sibling status. This change replaces the prior criteria-based review with a randomized selection among applicants who meet the eligibility threshold.
The International Baccalaureate Magnet Programme at Richard Montgomery High School is open to any Montgomery County student. Applicants should have completed at least Level I Spanish, French, or Chinese, or be bilingual in one of those languages, according to the program's application information page. Review includes grades, test scores, writing responses, and accomplishments. The program page notes roughly 125 seats with more than 1,200 applicants.
The Visual Art Center at Albert Einstein High School requires countywide applicants to complete the MCPS Special Program Application, submit a portfolio, and participate in a drawing session. For the 2025-26 application cycle, the drawing session was conducted virtually, according to the program page.
MCPS identifies students for enriched and gifted services through universal screening using multiple measures. A May 5, 2025 Board of Education Special Populations Committee presentation documented the use of CogAT scores, performance data, and behavioral checklists through the SIPPI system. For the 2025-26 school year, all grade 2 students are screened. Grades 4 and 7 include students new to MCPS or not previously identified. Rescreening occurs in upper elementary and middle grades. The MCPS enriched and gifted policy page describes the screening framework.
Placement into Algebra I by grade 8 is determined through multiple measures and professional review. These measures include report-card proficiency, district assessments, winter MAP results, MCAP scores, and, where applicable, ACCESS evidence. Enrollment is not automatic. No single test score governs placement. The Global Ecology House requires Algebra I by grade 8, so the middle school placement process directly affects eligibility for that program.
Dual enrollment with Montgomery College is available to Northwest High School students. Students apply to Montgomery College and coordinate through their high school Dual Enrollment Program Assistant. Approved courses appear on the high school transcript for dual credit unless the student files a refusal form. For students and courses that meet College and Career Readiness eligibility within program limits, MCPS and Montgomery College cover tuition, fees, required textbooks, and required instructional materials, according to the MCPS dual enrollment page. Other cases may be family responsibility.
MCPS has adopted changes to mathematics course grouping criteria. A May 26, 2026 parent criteria document published by MCPS outlines the new framework. Grade 4 rollout is scheduled for the 2026-27 school year, with additional grades to follow. MCPS cites Maryland State Department of Education guidance in the adoption, according to the MCPS mathematics curriculum page.
The Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, according to Bethesda Magazine reporting in February 2026 and a follow-up report in March 2026. Under this model, high schools are organized into six regions. The consortium lottery that governs school assignment in the Downcounty Consortium and the Northeast Consortium ends. Northwest High School is not part of either consortium. Students in the Northwest Cluster are assigned to Northwest High School by address, and that assignment mechanism does not change under the regional model. The regional model replaces the consortium choice process with regional program assignment for the schools that were in the consortia. For Northwest, which already operates on a by-address assignment, the base assignment to Northwest High School continues as before.
Enrollment, capacity, and boundaries
The Northwest Cluster enrolled 8,759 students across 11 schools in the 2023-24 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data. The cluster comprises one high school, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools. All 11 schools are located in Germantown and Gaithersburg, in zip codes 20874 and 20878.
Northwest High School is the cluster's single high school destination. Families living in the Northwest attendance area are assigned to it by address. There is no lottery or choice process for this cluster. The Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, under which high schools are organized into six regions and the consortium lottery ends. That change affects the Downcounty Consortium and the Northeast Consortium, where students currently select among several high schools. The Northwest Cluster is not part of either consortium. Assignment here remains address-based under the regional model.
The feeder chain
The path from elementary to middle to high school is not a single straight line. MCPS splits articulation at several buildings in this cluster, meaning some elementary schools feed more than one middle school, and some middle schools serve more than one high school cluster. Six of the eleven schools in the Northwest Cluster are shared with other clusters, according to NCES data for 2023-24. Enrollment in those shared schools totals 3,880 students. Those students are counted in full within the Northwest Cluster figures and also in the figures of the other clusters they serve, so the totals overlap and must not be summed across clusters.
The three middle schools and their elementary feeders break down as follows. Roberto W. Clemente Middle School, with 866 students in grades 6-8 in 2023-24, is shared with the Seneca Valley Cluster. Its Northwest-side elementary feeders include Clopper Mill Elementary (460 students, pre-K through grade 5), Germantown Elementary (318 students, pre-K through grade 5), and part of Great Seneca Creek Elementary. Both Clopper Mill and Germantown elementary schools are also shared with the Seneca Valley Cluster. Great Seneca Creek Elementary, with 510 students in kindergarten through grade 5, is not listed as shared.
Kingsview Middle School, with 922 students in grades 6-8 in 2023-24, is not shared with another cluster. It draws from Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary (569 students, kindergarten through grade 5, shared with Seneca Valley), Dr. Ronald E. McNair Elementary (707 students, pre-K through grade 5), and part of Great Seneca Creek Elementary.
Lakelands Park Middle School, with 1,014 students in grades 6-8 in 2023-24, is shared with the Quince Orchard Cluster. The Northwest Cluster page lists Darnestown Elementary (354 students, kindergarten through grade 5) and Diamond Elementary (653 students, kindergarten through grade 5) here. Diamond Elementary is also shared with the Quince Orchard Cluster.
Northwest High School itself enrolled 2,386 students in grades 9-12 in 2023-24, according to NCES. The MCPS School Assignment Tool is the authoritative way to determine which elementary, middle, and high school a given address is assigned to. The tool already incorporates the boundary changes adopted for the 2027-28 school year. Elementary-school names alone do not guarantee one middle or high school path. Assignments are address-based, and the Northwest Cluster has shared and split articulations at several buildings.
Capacity and utilization
MCPS publishes capacity and utilization data in its capital improvement program. The most recent figures come from the FY2027-2032 CIP, using a 2025-2026 baseline. Two elementary schools in the cluster are over capacity. Germantown Elementary School shows 316 students against a program-capacity of 279 seats, a 113.3 percent utilization rate and a 37-seat deficit. Diamond Elementary School shows 662 students against 650 seats, a 101.8 percent utilization rate and a 12-seat deficit.
Two schools sit well below capacity. Great Seneca Creek Elementary shows 466 students against 591 capacity, a 78.8 percent utilization rate and approximately 125 available seats. Roberto W. Clemente Middle School shows 909 students against 1,141 capacity, a 79.7 percent utilization rate and approximately 232 available seats. Northwest High School operates at approximately 97.2 percent utilization, near but below its capacity.
Active boundary changes
Two boundary processes are active and touch the Northwest Cluster.
The first is a set of Board-adopted secondary-school boundary changes known as Modified Option H. The Board of Education adopted these boundaries on March 26, 2026. The changes accompany the relocation of Thomas S. Wootton High School to Crown Farm and the expansion of Damascus High School. For the Northwest Cluster specifically, the adopted changes reassign the Brown Station Elementary School attendance area to Clemente Middle School and Northwest High School. They move the Diamond Elementary School area previously assigned to Northwest High School to Quince Orchard High School. They bring the Germantown Elementary School area previously assigned to Seneca Valley High School into Northwest High School. They also bring the S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary School area east of Gunners Lake into Northwest High School.
Implementation phases in by grade. In the 2027-28 school year, high school grades 9-10 and middle school grades 6-7 begin under the new boundaries. In the 2028-29 school year, high school grades 9-11 and all middle school grades operate under the new boundaries. In the 2029-30 school year, high school implementation reaches grades 9-12.
Grandfathering applies to students in the upper grades when the changes take effect. For the boundaries adopted March 26, 2026, rising grades 11 and 12 remain at their current high school in 2027-28, according to MCPS. Rising grade 8 remains at the current middle school. In 2028-29, grade 12 remains at the current high school. MCPS applied the same general precedent in the 2019 Northwest-area boundary redraw: grades 11-12 and grade 8 were grandfathered for the first implementation year, with specified program exceptions. The 2019 changes reassigned specified Northwest High School areas to Seneca Valley High School and adjusted middle-school feeders. High-school changes phased in from 2020 through 2023. Middle-school changes completed in 2021-22, according to the Board resolution.
The second active process is the Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study and school consolidation and closure review. This is a two-phase process. Phase 1 reviews potential elementary and middle school closures or consolidations. Phase 2 considers attendance-boundary adjustments, noncontiguous areas, and potential paired-school models. All Northwest Cluster elementary and middle school attendance areas are in scope. No Northwest Cluster school has been named as a closure candidate as of July 26, 2026.
The timeline for this study runs through 2030. The Board of Education received an initial planning-process presentation on July 16, 2026, according to MCPS. Closure and consolidation analysis begins in August 2026. The Superintendent is scheduled to present closure and consolidation recommendations in February or March 2027. Public hearings on those recommendations follow in March or April 2027. The Board is scheduled to decide on potential consolidations and closures in May 2027. Phase 2 boundary work begins in June 2027. Board adoption of final boundary assignments is scheduled for May 2028. Approved changes would take effect in the 2029-30 school year. Bethesda Magazine reported on the study's launch in July 2026.
The process will consider enrollment trends, capacity and utilization, facility condition, program and student-experience effects, access and geographic alignment, and long-term fiscal pressure, according to MCPS.
Transfers and assignment changes
Beyond boundary studies, families can request a Change of School Assignment, or COSA. The COSA process for 2026-27 opened in early February and closed on April 7, 2026, according to the COSA booklet. Requests may be based on hardship, a family move, sibling placement, specified academic sequences, or limited staff-child provisions. MCPS reports approximately 3,000 to 4,000 COSA requests annually systemwide. Parents or guardians must provide transportation for students attending under an approved COSA. Schools at least 10 percent over capacity close to COSA requests starting July 1. The COSA rules allow a request to join a sibling enrolled in a regular or special-education program. Magnet and immersion sibling requests are case by case. The preference does not apply when a boundary change has occurred, when the sibling is in pre-K, or for an academic-transfer request.
MCPS does not publish a general free open-enrollment program for nonresidents, according to the system's enrollment FAQ. Tuition-based requests for nonresident enrollment are handled case by case by International Admissions and Enrollment. No general interdistrict out-transfer entitlement or release procedure is published. Enrollment elsewhere is governed by the receiving district's residency and nonresident rules.
Residency enforcement is active. Fraudulent enrollment is defined as the intentional misrepresentation of bona fide residence or failure to report a residence change within 30 days, according to MCPS policy. The parent or guardian is liable for tuition for the fraudulent-enrollment period, and the student is withdrawn. Homeowners must provide a current property tax bill. Renters must provide a current lease, and a utility bill if the lease has expired. Shared housing requires a notarized Form 335-74, the host's tax bill or lease, and two supporting documents. International Admissions and Enrollment determines and verifies residency and tuition status and handles suspected fraudulent enrollment.
Enrollment drivers
MCPS forecasts enrollment based mainly on county births, aging of the current student population, and migration patterns, according to the system's CIP planning documents. Economic environment and cohort sizes also affect trends. The Northwest Cluster chapter in the FY2027 CIP highlights local planning and development context and notes areas of declining enrollment that the system considered in recommending a future elementary boundary review.
The cluster's total enrollment of 8,759 in 2023-24 reflects a demographic mix reported by NCES. The free and reduced-price lunch rate was 35.3 percent. The largest student groups by reported category were Hispanic at 25.4 percent, Black at 24.0 percent, Asian at 22.9 percent, and white at 21.2 percent. Students of two or more races accounted for 5.9 percent. American Indian students accounted for 0.3 percent and Pacific Islander students for 0.1 percent.
The fiscal picture for these schools
For FY2027, the Montgomery County Council appropriated $2,457,319,156 in local funding for MCPS, which was $161,540,160 above the state Maintenance of Effort floor of $2,295,778,996, according to the MCPS FY2027 operating budget. The Council rejected the County Executive's proposed 6.3-cent FY2027 property-tax increase.
The adopted FY2027 MCPS operating budget totals $3,724,289,307, a 3.6 percent increase over the prior year, with a published per-pupil figure of $22,660, according to MCPS. The 8,759 students enrolled across the 11 schools in this cluster in 2023-24, as counted by the National Center for Education Statistics, are funded through this county-wide appropriation. MCPS has no independent taxing authority. Even the property-tax component labeled "General County Tax (MCPS Only)" is levied by Montgomery County, not by the school system. For Levy Year 2026, that component was $0.0470 per $100 of assessed value, part of a standard County-component total of $1.0401, according to Montgomery County's real property tax rate schedule.
The Superintendent's FY2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program proposed a $2.704 billion six-year CIP, according to the MCPS capital plan. MCPS described the backlog of critical infrastructure and school-replacement projects as "extensive" and stated that even the proposed plan did not address the full need. No single quantified deferred-maintenance estimate was published in the reviewed plan. The 11 schools in this cluster, including Northwest High School, three middle schools, and seven elementary schools, are part of the system served by this county-wide capital plan. Six of these 11 schools are shared with other clusters, because MCPS splits articulation at several buildings, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Their enrollment is included in the cluster total in full, so totals across the county overlap and must not be summed.
MCPS cannot issue bonded debt. Montgomery County issues general obligation bonds for school construction, and the County holds Aaa from Moody's (affirmed October 29, 2025), according to the County, and AAA from S&P (affirmed April 1, 2026, outlook stable), according to S&P, and AAA from Fitch (affirmed October 28, 2025, outlook stable), according to Fitch. MCPS reported its own outstanding obligations at $332,195,754 as of June 30, 2025, consisting of finance agreements, leases, and subscription liabilities, according to the MCPS ACFR. The Board of Education reported a net pension liability of $327,438,904 and a net OPEB liability of $1,780,817,031 at the same date. These are MCPS obligations reported in its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report and are distinct from County general obligation debt.
The adopted FY2027 budget is balanced as an appropriation but is not fully balanced on a recurring basis, according to MCPS. It uses a one-time $25 million OPEB Fund allocation to support the Employee Benefit Plan Fund. The budget identifies future planned lapse-and-turnover reductions of up to $30 million over three years and Employee Benefit Plan deficit-recovery amounts of $70 million in FY2028 and $40 million in FY2029. It also projects enrollment down by 4,956 students for FY2027.
When federal ESSER grant funding ended, MCPS moved resources from the discontinued grant into the recurring operating budget, according to MCPS. The adopted FY2025 budget nevertheless required $30,592,295 of reductions, including 122.7 FTE from raising class-size guidelines, reduced staff-development allocations, central-office position cuts, elimination of the Montgomery Virtual Academy, delayed pre-K expansion, and contractual-service reductions, according to MCPS.
MCPS reported an unassigned General Fund balance of $21,478,157 as of June 30, 2025, up from $11.9 million in FY2024 and $8.2 million in FY2023, according to the MCPS ACFR.
Montgomery County Question A on the November 3, 2026 ballot would amend Charter Section 305 to require unanimous approval by all Councilmembers, rather than seven of eleven, when the County operating budget grows faster than the Washington-area CPI, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. It is a county fiscal charter amendment, not an MCPS bond or independent school levy.
The municipal and land-use context
The Northwest High School cluster sits within a part of Montgomery County where multiple municipal annexation petitions are active and where a future high school site is under a conditional transfer agreement. These land-use actions interact with school capacity planning through the county's Adequate Public Facilities ordinance, school impact taxes, and MCPS enrollment projections.
The City of Gaithersburg documents that, under the terms of an annexation agreement, it will transfer the Crown Farm High School site to MCPS once two years of construction funding have been secured. The city's project page, dated July 2026, states this condition explicitly. The site is intended for a future high school. The transfer mechanism means that MCPS does not yet control the property. The timeline depends on the county's capital budget process, which the County Council appropriates on a multi-year cycle. The conditional nature of the transfer means that the site cannot move forward until the funding milestone is met. The county's fiscal position directly affects when that milestone can be reached.
Two annexation petitions are under review by the City of Rockville. The first, designated ANX2023-00147, concerns land near the Shady Grove Metro Station. The Rockville Mayor and Council advanced plan discussions in March and April 2025. The city noticed public hearings for March 9, March 23, and April 13, 2026. The city's resolution descriptors state that annexation petitions intersect with Rockville's Adequate Public Facilities school test, which can require an MCPS determination on school adequacy. This means that before the annexation can proceed, MCPS may need to certify whether schools serving the area have sufficient capacity for the students the development would generate.
The second Rockville petition, designated 2026-234-ANX, concerns a parcel of approximately 10.45 acres at 1000 Westmore Avenue. The Mayor and Council introduced the proposal on February 2, 2026. Rockville staff released a staff report on March 25, 2026. The city issued a public hearing resolution in March 2026 and announced neighborhood meetings on April 9, 2026. This petition is also subject to the Adequate Public Facilities school test.
Montgomery County's school impact tax is the fiscal mechanism connecting new residential development to school capacity costs. The Montgomery Planning Board sets student-generation rates that determine how much revenue the impact tax produces per unit. These rates are part of the Growth and Infrastructure Policy administered by the Planning Board. Projects with at least 25 percent Moderately Priced Dwelling Units or Workforce Housing Units receive an exemption from the development impact tax, according to county permitting materials. The county's MPDU mandate requires a 12.5 to 15 percent set-aside of moderately priced units in developments of 20 or more units, according to the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. No official source quantifies a net MCPS fiscal impact from the MPDU mandate or its impact-tax exemption. The documented nexus between housing mandates and school capacity is through the impact-tax revenue stream and MCPS enrollment and capacity planning, not through a direct fiscal accounting.
The fiscal environment in which school capacity decisions are made is tightening. For FY2027, MCPS reported that the County Council's appropriation left approximately a $36 million gap relative to the Board of Education's original request. The Board then adopted reductions affecting 415 positions. The final FY2027 MCPS budget adoption was $3.72 billion. County fiscal materials report AAA general-obligation bond ratings and reserve levels around policy targets, while FY2027 recommendations note revenue enhancements and cost pressures. MCPS is a fiscally dependent local education agency, meaning it cannot raise its own operating revenue. State law requires the county to appropriate at least the prior year's per-pupil amount under Maintenance of Effort requirements. Funding above that floor is discretionary and is the recurring point of contention between the Board and the Council. School capacity planning, including any future construction at the Crown Farm site, depends on County Council appropriations to the capital budget.
The enrollment across the Northwest High School cluster was 8,759 students in 2023-24, according to MCPS. This figure provides the baseline against which new development and student generation are measured in the Adequate Public Facilities process.
Real estate and the price of admission
The Northwest Cluster draws its students from the Germantown area of Montgomery County. The cluster's attendance boundary, set by Montgomery County Public Schools, does not follow ZIP code lines. A single ZIP code can contain portions of multiple school clusters, and a single cluster can span more than one ZIP code. Families should not treat a ZIP code as a proxy for school assignment. The MCPS service area maps provide the authoritative tool for determining which cluster a given address falls within.
The residential development pipeline documented by the Montgomery County Planning Board for this area is small. The Planning Board approved an administrative subdivision plan for Rich Meadows Parcel 606 (Administrative Subdivision Plan No. 620240010, MCPB No. 24-119) creating one new single-family detached dwelling on one lot. The Planning Board also approved the Ancient Oak administrative subdivision (Administrative Subdivision Plan No. 620240220, MCPB No. 25-054), which adds one new single-family detached dwelling to an existing lot. Together, these two approved plans add two dwelling units to the residential supply in the cluster area. Neither plan involves multifamily construction or large-scale subdivision.
Montgomery County connects new residential development to school capacity through the Annual School Test, administered by the Montgomery County Planning Department. The test applies student generation rates to proposed residential projects. These rates, published by the Planning Department as part of its growth and infrastructure policy, estimate how many students each type of housing unit is likely to produce, and they vary by housing type. The Annual School Test then compares projected student generation against available capacity at the schools serving the development site. A project that would push a school above its utilization threshold triggers a review process under the county's school facility adequacy rules.
The Germantown Sector Plan Amendment Existing Conditions Report, published by the Montgomery County Planning Department in February 2025, compiles demographic, housing, and land-use data for the Germantown planning area, which overlaps with the Northwest Cluster attendance boundary. The county's West Germantown Disclosure for fiscal year 2024, published by Montgomery County, provides additional fiscal and development information for that portion of the area.
At the state level, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development released the 2025 Statewide Housing Needs Assessment in July 2025. The assessment documents housing demand and supply conditions across Maryland, including Montgomery County. Montgomery County also conducts an Annual Rental Survey of multifamily and single-unit rental properties, administered by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which collects rent and occupancy data from landlords.
The County Council introduced Zoning Text Amendment 26-06 in April 2026. The amendment would revise standards for attached and detached accessory dwelling units countywide to bring county law into compliance with Maryland House Bill 1466 and Senate Bill 891. The Planning Board reviewed the amendment on May 28, 2026. No adoption had occurred as of July 26, 2026. The amendment, if adopted, would apply to properties throughout Montgomery County, including those within the Northwest Cluster service area. The zoning text amendment record does not include a quantified estimate of housing production or student generation effects for the Northwest Cluster specifically.
Property in Montgomery County is assessed by the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Property owners who disagree with their assessment may appeal through a process administered by that department. The county's Department of Finance publishes information on county tax rates and property tax obligations. These rates apply within tax classes across the county and do not vary by school cluster.
Choice and alternatives to the assigned school
Families residing in the Northwest High School attendance area are assigned to that school by address. This cluster does not participate in the Downcounty Consortium or the Northeast Consortium, the two MCPS areas where students select among several high schools through a ranked Choice lottery rather than receiving a single assignment. The Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year. Under this model, high schools are organized into six regions and the consortium lottery ends. Because the Northwest cluster is not part of either consortium, its students do not currently participate in the consortium choice process.
According to NCES Common Core of Data for 2023-24, six of the eleven schools in this cluster also feed one or more other clusters. MCPS splits articulation at several buildings, meaning some students at shared schools are assigned to a different high school cluster. Enrollment at these six shared schools totals 3,880 of the cluster's 8,759 students. These enrollment figures are counted in full for each cluster they serve, so totals across the county overlap and must not be summed.
MCPS operates countywide application programs at the high school level that are open to students regardless of assigned cluster. These include International Baccalaureate programs, STEM programs, the Visual Art Center at Albert Einstein High School, P-TECH pathways, and career academies. The Visual Art Center is a portfolio-preparation program. At the middle school level, A. Mario Loiederman Middle School hosts a Creative and Performing Arts Magnet. These programs are located outside the Northwest cluster attendance area. Transportation for countywide programs may use central stops rather than neighborhood stops.
Families apply through ParentVUE during posted application windows. Admission mechanisms vary by program. Consortia use ranked Choice lotteries. Criteria-based programs use defined admissions criteria. Language immersion programs use a lottery for entry grades when demand exceeds capacity.
Career and technical education provides another option. MCPS offers a Cybersecurity regional program where students can pursue CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ industry credentials. MCPS also operates a Dual Enrollment partnership with Montgomery College, through which high school students earn college credit.
MCPS permits home instruction under Maryland state law. Families choosing this option follow state portfolio review and instruction requirements.
The Montgomery County Board of Education serves as the primary charter school authorizer under Maryland law and MCPS Policy CFB. On April 30, 2026, the Board voted 6-2 to revoke the charter of one school, effective June 30, 2026, citing special-education compliance, student-privacy, staffing, and financial concerns. No stay or appeal disposition was located through July 26, 2026, according to Bethesda Magazine.
Maryland's BOOST program provides state-funded vouchers for private school tuition. BOOST operated in 2025-2026 with an application window from March 9 through May 8, 2026, giving priority to current recipients and siblings. A 2026 fiscal note described program priorities and prospective funding. No MCPS-specific recipient count or local fiscal effect was published.
Several independent schools operate in the broader Montgomery County area. For 2026-2027, Holton-Arms School published tuition of $60,535 for grades 3-12. Landon School published tuition of $53,500 for grades 3-5 and $59,000 for grades 6-12. Bullis School published total tuition and fees ranging from $47,610 to $61,345. Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart published tuition from $38,050 for Pre-K and kindergarten to $51,700 for grades 9-12. Georgetown Preparatory School published day tuition of $47,450 and resident tuition of $78,015, with an ESL supplement of $9,660. These schools set their own admission processes and are not part of MCPS.
Programs, logistics, and special populations
MCPS provides special education services through several program models deployed across its schools. These models include the Home School Model, Learning for Independence, School Community-Based Services, LAD/Resource Services, Autism services, Deaf and Hard of Hearing services, vision services, and a Preschool Education Program. The specific combination of programs at any given building depends on student needs and district placement decisions. Families of students with Individualized Education Programs participate in an IEP team process that determines placement.
MSDE has issued corrective actions against MCPS in two recent complaint matters. In Complaint 26-390, MSDE amended an April 30, 2026 finding regarding the provision of speech-language services and required corrective actions with completion documentation deadlines. In Complaint 26-361, MSDE issued findings on service-plan goals, progress measurement, and annual review timeliness, requiring determinations and staff guidance by June 18, 2026. Both matters are district-wide and not specific to the Northwest cluster.
MCPS serves English learners through English Language Development services, Spanish-English Two-Way Immersion using a 50/50 model, and one-way world-language immersion in Chinese, French, and Spanish. Six elementary schools host the Two-Way Immersion program: Brown Station, Kemp Mill, Gaithersburg, Oakland Terrace, Rolling Terrace, and Washington Grove. MCPS indicates that English learner enrollment data are presented to the Board of Education. A single current districtwide count or percentage is not published on the district's English learner program pages.
Bell times in MCPS follow a tiered structure that varies by school level. The district posts school-specific bell-time sheets that are subject to change near the start of the school year. Examples from the schedule illustrate the tier system: Rockville High School operates 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Kingsview Middle School operates 8:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and Beall Elementary School operates 9:00 a.m. to 3:25 p.m. MCPS advises families to confirm their school's current schedule through posted route and bell-time sheets, which the district updates.
Transportation eligibility depends on distance from school. Elementary students who live more than 1.0 mile from their school are eligible for bus service. Middle school students must live more than 1.5 miles away. High school students must live more than 2.0 miles away. Hazardous walking conditions and IEP-required transportation can override these distance thresholds. MCPS indicates that regular education bus schedules are available but some routes may experience delays. The department uploads updated route sheets daily by school, and families can access route and stop information through posted sheets on the transportation department's pages.
Class sizes in MCPS follow staffing guidelines rather than hard caps for the 2024-2025 school year. At the elementary level, the guidelines call for 25 students in kindergarten, 26 in grades 1-2, 27 in grade 3, and 29 in grades 4-5. Schools designated as Focus or Title I have lower guidelines: 19 students in kindergarten through grade 2, 25 in grade 3, and 27 in grades 4-5. At the middle and high school levels, the guideline is 30 for English classes and 33 for other courses.
Before and after school care is provided through outside organizations rather than directly by MCPS. Bar-T Kids Club and Montgomery Child Care Association operate programs in MCPS buildings. Bar-T reports serving 33 MCPS schools. MCCA lists specific elementary school sites. Availability is provider- and site-specific, and no districtwide waitlist is published. Pricing is set by the providers and varies by school, schedule, and subsidy eligibility. Montgomery County's Working Parents Assistance program may offset child care costs for eligible families. MCPS directs families to apply directly with providers and inquire about current waitlists well before the school year begins.
The 2026-2027 traditional school calendar runs from August 25, 2026 through June 11, 2027. Two elementary schools, Arcola ES and Roscoe Nix ES, operate on the Innovative extended calendar. MCPS does not operate any schools on a four-day week schedule.
Safety, climate, and community
MCPS publishes a Safety and Security at a Glance report for each school. Northwest High School has a posted report covering the 2021-2022 school year. The report presents incident counts by category. MCPS cautions, in its definitions document, that category definitions differ across reporting frameworks, raw counts are not enrollment-adjusted, and some cells are suppressed and displayed as "--" to protect privacy. MCPS advises against direct numerical comparisons between schools or years without accounting for these methodological differences. The Northwest High School report covers the 2021-2022 school year.
Two incidents at Northwest High School drew public attention. On September 6, 2024, an individual associated with Northwest High School was arrested and a loaded handgun was recovered in connection with the school, according to MyMCMedia. Coverage by FOX 5 DC and WUSA9 noted public discussion about whether the arrest occurred on or near campus. The principal notified families on September 11, 2024, several days after the arrest. MCPS stated that privacy requirements and the timing of information received from law enforcement contributed to the delay. The school held a community meeting on September 17, 2024. Some families disputed the adequacy and timing of the communication, according to FOX 5 DC and WUSA9 coverage.
On September 3, 2025, Northwest High School acknowledged a circulating video depicting inappropriate intimate behavior and misuse of personal devices on campus, according to FOX 5 DC. The school characterized the conduct as unacceptable, referred the matter to the MCPS Title IX office and to police, and requested information from the community. The school stated that investigations were underway.
The MCPS approach to school security staffing changed during the 2021-2022 school year. The School Resource Officer program ended in fall 2021. Since February 2022, sworn Montgomery County police officers serve as Community Engagement Officers assigned to school clusters, according to the Montgomery County Police Department. These officers are not stationed inside schools and do not manage routine discipline. MCPS describes its discipline framework as restorative and relationship-centered, with progressive responses. The 2025-2026 Student Code of Conduct states that removal, suspension, and expulsion are last resorts, reserved for imminent threats or chronic, extreme disruption.
Maryland enacted the Phone-Free Schools Act (HB 525), effective July 1, 2026, according to the Maryland General Assembly. The law requires each county board to adopt and implement a student device-use policy consistent with the statute by the 2027-2028 school year, with ongoing reporting requirements thereafter. MCPS has adopted a systemwide cell phone regulation that applies to Northwest High School. Under this regulation, high school students may use personal devices before school, after school, at lunch, between classes, and on MCPS buses. Use is not permitted during instructional time unless specifically authorized. Devices must remain off and out of sight when use is prohibited. Accommodations under Individualized Education Programs and 504 plans apply, and enforcement is progressive under the Student Code of Conduct.
MCPS administered a climate survey at Northwest High School in the fall of the 2025-2026 school year, with separate instruments for students, parents, and school-based staff. According to MCPS's own student survey results, 1,366 students responded, representing a 62 percent response rate. Among those respondents, 68.6 percent agreed they felt they belonged at school and 68.2 percent agreed they felt safe. Among the same group, 6.7 percent disagreed that they felt they belonged and 7.9 percent disagreed that they felt safe. According to MCPS's own parent survey results, 68 parents responded, representing a 3 percent response rate. Among those respondents, 83.6 percent agreed they felt welcomed and 70.5 percent agreed their child felt safe. The parent response rate of 3 percent means these figures reflect a small fraction of the parent population. According to MCPS's own staff survey results, 161 staff members responded, representing a 71 percent response rate. Among those respondents, 77.1 percent agreed they felt safe in school. Thirty percent of staff respondents disagreed that they felt well-informed about school happenings.
Leadership and community
Superintendent Thomas W. Taylor began his tenure on July 1, 2024, under a four-year contract running through June 30, 2028, with a starting annual salary of $360,000, according to the employment contract signed June 25, 2024. Before joining MCPS, Taylor served as superintendent in Stafford County and Middlesex County, Virginia, and brought more than 25 years of experience as a teacher, coach, principal, and district leader, according to MCPS.
Taylor succeeded Monique Felder, who served as interim superintendent beginning February 6, 2024, according to MCPS. Felder filled the role after the departure of Monifa B. McKnight, whose tenure ran from June 1, 2021, to February 2, 2024. McKnight's separation included a reported $1.3 million payment, according to WUSA9 and MyMCMedia. Before McKnight, Jack R. Smith served as superintendent until his retirement on June 1, 2021, according to MCPS and the Maryland State Archives.
The Montgomery County Board of Education consists of eight members elected county-wide. Grace Rivera-Oven serves as President, representing District 1, first elected in 2022 with a term expiring in 2026. Brenda Wolff serves as Vice President, representing District 5, first elected in 2018 with a term expiring in 2026. At-large members include Rita Montoya, first elected in 2024 with a term expiring in 2028, and Karla Silvestre, first elected in 2018 with a term expiring in 2026. District members include Laura Stewart (District 4, first elected 2024, term expires 2028), Julie Yang (District 3, first elected 2022, term expires 2026), and Natalie Zimmerman (District 2, first elected 2024, term expires 2028). A student member elected in 2026 serves a term expiring in 2027. All members are listed on the MCPS Board of Education members page.
Recent board elections were contested. In November 2022, Karla Silvestre won At Large, Grace Rivera-Oven won District 1, Julie Yang won District 3, and Brenda Wolff won District 5, according to Maryland election results. In November 2024, Rita Montoya won At Large, Natalie Zimmerman won District 2, and Laura Stewart won District 4, according to Maryland election results. In the June 2026 primary, Brenda M. Diaz and Omar Lazo advanced for At Large, while Sally A. McCarthy and Cassandra Sung advanced for District 3, according to Maryland election results. The general election remained pending as of July 26, 2026.
MCPS maintains a cabinet of chief officers reporting to the superintendent. According to the district's organizational leadership directory, these include Essie McGuire as Chief of Staff, Marcus G. Jones as Chief Safety Officer, Kimberly Fields as Chief Technology Officer, Niki Porter as Chief Academic Officer, Nyah Hamlett as Chief Equity and Development Officer, Adnan Mamoon as Chief Operations Officer, Robyn Seabrook as Chief of Legal Services, Peter O. Moran as Chief School Leadership Officer, Ivon Alfonso-Windsor as Chief Financial Officer, Margaret Cage as Chief Student Support Officer, and Renee McCall as Chief Talent Management Officer.
Three labor bargaining units represent MCPS employees. The Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), representing approximately 14,000 members, operates under a contract expiring June 30, 2027, according to MCEA. SEIU Local 500's most recent agreement ended June 30, 2026, and MCPS continued to post that expired agreement on its association relations page as of July 2026, with no successor agreement located. The Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals / Montgomery County Business and Operations Administrators (MCAAP/MCBOA) operates under a 2025-2028 agreement. MCEA publicly describes 2026 as an active bargaining year, according to MCEA. The sourced record shows open and uneven bargaining across the three units, but no reported impasse or strike authorization.
The last MCPS work stoppage occurred in 1968, when employees struck for 10 days from February 2 through February 11, returning on February 12, according to Montgomery History.
MSDE issued a final special-education complaint finding, numbered 26-361, on April 17, 2026, and required MCPS to submit corrective-action documentation by June 18, 2026, according to MSDE. The finding required MCPS to document required funding and IEP-team determinations and school-staff notifications. Public confirmation that MSDE closed the corrective action was not located. Separately, the Maryland Office of Legislative Audits issued a financial-management audit on September 29, 2022, with 13 findings. MCPS agreed with the recommendations and listed implementation dates through August 2024. In January 2024, the Montgomery County Office of the Inspector General issued findings on employee-misconduct processes. MCPS publicly tracked corrective actions including a complaint database, policy and manual revisions, staffing, and training.
MCPS faces ongoing litigation from Mahmoud v. Taylor, a civil rights case concerning notice and opt-out provisions for LGBTQ-inclusive storybooks. The U.S. Supreme Court held 6-3 on June 27, 2025, that the parents were entitled to a preliminary injunction and remanded the case, according to the Supreme Court. The parties signed a settlement and consent judgment on February 19, 2026, requiring MCPS to provide advance notice when covered or similar storybooks will be used, permit affected families to opt out, and make a reported $1.5 million payment, according to Maryland Matters and K-12 Dive. The federal court retains compliance jurisdiction under the consent judgment.
At Northwest High School specifically, an individual associated with the school was arrested and a loaded handgun was recovered in connection with the school area in September 2024, according to MyMCMedia and Fox 5 DC. Families received notice days later and a community meeting was held. In September 2025, Northwest High School publicly addressed a circulating on-campus video showing inappropriate intimate conduct and misuse of devices, according to Fox 5 DC. The school said it initiated investigations with the MCPS Title IX office and police.
MCPS publishes class-size planning guidelines rather than statutory caps. For 2024-2025, the guidelines were: general elementary kindergarten 25, grades 1-2 at 26, grade 3 at 27, grades 4-5 at 29; Focus/Title I kindergarten through grade 2 at 19, grade 3 at 25, grades 4-5 at 27; secondary English at 30 and other courses at 33, according to MCPS. Review is triggered when three or more classes in a grade exceed a guideline, but extra staffing is not guaranteed. These are staffing guidelines, not legal caps, and no compliance finding was located.
Risks and watch items: the forward calendar
Montgomery County's approved FY2027 capital plan includes Northwest High School Improvements in preliminary design with state aid identified, according to the County Council's approved capital improvements program published in June 2026. The schedule shows planning and construction activity in FY2027, including softball field work. The County Council appropriates capital funds for MCPS. The County Executive recommends the capital budget. The Board of Education adopts the requested capital program. Families in the Northwest cluster may see design or construction activity during this period.
MCPS schedules a student transition and orientation day for August 24, 2026, and the first full instructional day for August 25, 2026, according to the 2026-2027 traditional calendar. These are the next systemwide start-of-school dates that apply to Northwest High School families.
The November 2026 general election will determine the At Large and District 3 seats on the Board of Education. In the June 2026 primary, Brenda M. Diaz and Omar Lazo advanced for At Large, while Sally A. McCarthy and Cassandra Sung advanced for District 3, according to Maryland election results. The general election remained pending as of July 26, 2026. The Board of Education adopts the requested operating budget. The County Executive recommends funding levels. The County Council appropriates. Under Maryland's Maintenance of Effort law, the county must appropriate at least the prior year's per-pupil amount. Funding above that floor is discretionary and is the recurring point of contention between the Board and the Council.
MCPS implemented a systemwide personal-device regulation for the 2025-2026 school year, limiting device use during instructional time at high schools while permitting use before school, after school, at lunch, between classes, and on buses, with progressive discipline for violations, according to MCPS. Maryland then enacted HB 525, the Phone-Free Schools Act, effective July 1, 2026, creating a statewide requirement for local boards to adopt and implement student device-use policies and to report on implementation, according to the Maryland General Assembly. County boards must have policies operational by the 2027-2028 school year. MCPS must ensure its final policy aligns with the statewide academic-day requirements and statutory exceptions.
The Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, under which high schools are organized into six regions and the consortium lottery ends. Northwest High School is not part of a consortium. Students in this attendance area are assigned to Northwest High School by address. The regional model is a system-wide change that may affect how programs are organized across MCPS high schools, including Northwest.
The MCEA contract expires June 30, 2027, according to MCEA. MCEA represents approximately 14,000 members and publicly describes 2026 as an active bargaining year, according to MCEA. SEIU Local 500's most recent agreement ended June 30, 2026, and no successor agreement was located as of July 2026, according to MCPS. The MCAAP/MCBOA agreement runs through June 30, 2028. The sourced record shows open and uneven bargaining, but no reported impasse or strike authorization.
MSDE's corrective-action deadline of June 18, 2026, for special-education complaint 26-361 has passed, according to MSDE. MCPS was required to document required funding and IEP-team determinations and school-staff notifications to MSDE. The public letter does not state that closure has occurred. The federal court retains compliance jurisdiction over the Mahmoud v. Taylor consent judgment, under which MCPS must provide advance notice when covered storybooks will be used and permit affected families to opt out, according to Maryland Matters.
Best fit: who this cluster serves well
Northwest High School offers 29 Advanced Placement courses, according to the school's AP registration page. Students seeking AP coursework can access it at their assigned high school without applying to a countywide magnet. No International Baccalaureate program is hosted at the building. Students who want an IB diploma must apply to the countywide IB Magnet Programme at Richard Montgomery High School, which admits roughly 125 students from more than 1,200 applicants, according to the program's application information page. The cluster is structurally positioned to provide AP coursework through neighborhood assignment. It is not positioned to provide an IB pathway within the cluster.
The cluster's address-based assignment provides a structural feature that the Downcounty and Northeast consortia do not. Families living within the Northwest attendance boundary are assigned to Northwest High School by address. There is no lottery, no choice process, and no uncertainty about which high school a student will attend, assuming no boundary change occurs. The Board of Education has adopted a regional programs model beginning in the 2027-28 school year, according to Bethesda Magazine reporting in February 2026. The Northwest Cluster is not part of either consortium, and its address-based assignment continues under the regional model. This assignment mechanism is a structural feature of the cluster's design, not a programmatic offering.
Dual enrollment with Montgomery College is available to Northwest High School students. Students apply to Montgomery College and coordinate through their high school Dual Enrollment Program Assistant. For students and courses that meet College and Career Readiness eligibility within program limits, MCPS and Montgomery College cover tuition, fees, required textbooks, and required instructional materials, according to the MCPS dual enrollment page. Approved courses appear on the high school transcript for dual credit unless the student files a refusal form. This pathway allows students to earn college credit while enrolled at their assigned high school.
The Global Ecology House at Poolesville High School is a countywide option available to students who live in the Northwest Cluster attendance area, according to the MCPS program page. Admission requires Algebra I or higher by grade 8. The U.S. Department of Education named Northwest High School a Green Ribbon School in 2015, recognizing practices related to environmental impact, health, and sustainability. Environmental education is a theme present at the cluster's high school through the Green Ribbon designation, and a countywide environmental science program is accessible to cluster students through application to a school outside the cluster.
The Visual Art Center at Albert Einstein High School is another countywide option available to Northwest Cluster students. It requires a portfolio submission and a drawing session, according to the program page. This program is not sited within the cluster, and access depends on application and selection rather than enrollment at Northwest High School.
MCPS identifies students for enriched and gifted services through universal screening using multiple measures, including CogAT scores, performance data, and behavioral checklists through the SIPPI system, according to a May 5, 2025 Board of Education Special Populations Committee presentation. For the 2025-26 school year, all grade 2 students are screened. This screening occurs at the elementary school level within the cluster, so identification for enriched services is available to students attending cluster elementary schools through their regular enrollment.
The cluster's capacity profile reveals a structural constraint. Northwest High School operates at approximately 97.2 percent utilization, near but below its program capacity of 2,268 seats, according to MCPS capital improvement program data using a 2025-2026 baseline. Two elementary schools, Germantown Elementary at 113.3 percent and Diamond Elementary at 101.8 percent, are over capacity. The cluster is not uniformly positioned to absorb enrollment growth at the elementary level without boundary adjustments. The Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study, with Board adoption of final boundary assignments scheduled for May 2028, places all cluster elementary and middle school attendance areas in scope, according to MCPS.
Surprising insights
The cluster's enrollment figure of 8,759 students does not represent 8,759 future Northwest High School students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics for 2023-24, 3,880 of those students, or roughly 44 percent, attend schools shared with the Seneca Valley or Quince Orchard clusters. MCPS splits articulation at six of the cluster's eleven buildings. Students at the same elementary or middle school can be assigned to different high schools based on their home address. The cluster enrollment total therefore includes a substantial number of students who will not attend Northwest High School, because their addresses assign them to other high schools within the same shared buildings.
Capacity utilization within the cluster varies sharply among schools in the same ZIP code. According to MCPS capital improvement program data using a 2025-2026 baseline, Germantown Elementary School operates at 113.3 percent of capacity with a 37-seat deficit, while Great Seneca Creek Elementary, also in Germantown 20874, operates at 78.8 percent of capacity with approximately 125 available seats. Diamond Elementary is over capacity at 101.8 percent. Roberto W. Clemente Middle School sits at 79.7 percent utilization with approximately 232 available seats. This imbalance exists within a single cluster and a single postal designation, which means that crowding at one building coexists with surplus capacity at another in the same attendance area.
MCPS cannot issue bonded debt for school construction, despite operating a budget of $3.7 billion for FY2027. In many states, school districts issue their own bonds to finance construction. In Maryland, MCPS is fiscally dependent, and Montgomery County issues general obligation bonds on behalf of the school system. The County's bond ratings, Aaa from Moody's affirmed October 29, 2025, AAA from S&P affirmed April 1, 2026, and AAA from Fitch affirmed October 28, 2025, determine the borrowing costs for school construction projects. MCPS reported its own outstanding obligations at $332,195,754 as of June 30, 2025, consisting of finance agreements, leases, and subscription liabilities, not general obligation bonds.
The FY2027 MCPS operating budget is balanced as an appropriation but is not fully balanced on a recurring basis, according to MCPS. It uses a one-time $25 million OPEB Fund allocation to support the Employee Benefit Plan Fund. The budget identifies future Employee Benefit Plan deficit-recovery amounts of $70 million in FY2028 and $40 million in FY2029, along with planned lapse-and-turnover reductions of up to $30 million over three years. A parent reviewing the budget headline would see a balanced appropriation without seeing that the balance depends on non-recurring resources.
MCPS shifted Global Ecology Program admissions from criteria-based selection to a lottery, as reported by Poolesville Pulse in 2025. Under the prior system, applicants were evaluated on academic measures. Under the lottery, seats are filled through random selection among applicants who meet the eligibility threshold, with the lottery considering choice ranking, base-area school, and sibling status. The program requires Algebra I by grade 8, so a student who meets that academic bar is no longer assured admission through competitive evaluation alone.
Questions parents should ask
Questions for the MCPS school-based office
Which elementary, middle, and high school is my specific address assigned to, and does the MCPS School Assignment Tool reflect the boundary changes adopted on March 26, 2026?
If my child attends a shared school, which high school cluster will they feed into based on our home address within the school's attendance zone?
What is the bell schedule at Northwest High School, and how does it compare to the bell schedules at the cluster's three middle schools?
How does the AP registration process work at Northwest High School, and are all 29 AP courses available to every student regardless of grade level?
Questions for the MCPS central administration
Under the Modified Option H boundary changes adopted March 26, 2026, according to MCPS, will my child be reassigned to a different school, and if so, in which school year does the reassignment take effect?
If my child is in a rising grade affected by the boundary changes, are they eligible for grandfathering at their current school, and what are the specified program exceptions?
What are the mathematics course grouping criteria for my child's grade under the new framework published in May 2026, and when does the rollout for my child's grade take effect?
How does the COSA process work for my specific situation, and is my desired school closed to COSA requests because it is at least 10 percent over capacity?
What are the specific criteria for identifying my child for enriched and gifted services through the SIPPI system, and at which grade levels does universal screening occur?
Questions for the MCPS Department of Transportation
What bus routes serve my address, and how will transportation be affected if my child's school assignment changes under the adopted boundary modifications?
Questions for MCPS International Admissions and Enrollment
What proof of residency is required for enrollment, and what additional documentation is needed for shared housing arrangements?
Questions for the Maryland State Department of Education
What specific indicators and weights produced the four-star rating for Northwest High School for SY2024, and how does the points total of 62.5 compare to the threshold for five stars, according to the MSDE Report Card User Guide?
Is Northwest High School designated for Targeted Support and Improvement, Additional Targeted Support and Improvement, or Comprehensive Support and Improvement under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act framework, according to MSDE's TSI data file?
Questions for the Montgomery County Council
How does the Maintenance of Effort requirement affect the local funding appropriated for MCPS in FY2027, and what is the status of Montgomery County Question A on the November 3, 2026 ballot?
Questions for the Board of Education
When will the Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study produce closure and consolidation recommendations for schools in the Northwest Cluster, according to MCPS, and has any Northwest Cluster school been named as a closure candidate as of July 26, 2026?
What is the timeline for the regional programs model implementation, and how does it affect access to specialized programs for students assigned to Northwest High School?
Questions for Montgomery College
What courses are available through dual enrollment for Northwest High School students, and how does the tuition coverage work for students who meet College and Career Readiness eligibility?
Scope, method, and sourcing notes
This report covers the Northwest Cluster of Montgomery County Public Schools, a high school attendance area within the county-wide MCPS system. It describes enrollment, capacity, academic programs, boundary processes, fiscal context, and real estate factors as reported by the bodies that publish those figures. It does not rate, rank, or recommend schools or districts. It does not predict outcomes of contested processes or pending decisions.
Enrollment and demographic figures come from the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data for the 2023-24 school year. NCES is the primary federal source for school-level enrollment data. The NCES figures for this cluster include 8,759 students across 11 schools, with 3,880 of those students attending schools shared with other clusters. These figures carry the vintage of their publication, and more recent official revisions from MCPS or MSDE supersede older federal collections of the same measure where both exist.
Academic accountability data comes from the Maryland State Department of Education. MSDE published the Maryland School Report Card for SY2024, assigning Northwest High School a four-star rating based on 62.5 of 100 possible points, according to the school's SY25 improvement plan. MSDE also publishes the Report Card User Guide, definitions, and data files for Targeted Support and Improvement designations. The 2025 Maryland School Report Card provides state, district, and school-level results.
Fiscal figures come from MCPS, the Montgomery County Council, the Montgomery County Executive, and Montgomery County government. The MCPS FY2027 operating budget totals $3,724,289,307, with a per-pupil figure of $22,660. The Montgomery County Council appropriated $2,457,319,156 in local funding for MCPS for FY2027. The MCPS FY2027-2032 Capital Improvements Program proposes $2.704 billion over six years. The MCPS Annual Comprehensive Financial Report reports financial position as of June 30, 2025. Montgomery County's real property tax rate schedule provides Levy Year 2026 rates. Bond ratings come from Moody's, affirmed October 29, 2025, S&P, affirmed April 1, 2026, and Fitch, affirmed October 28, 2025.
Capacity and utilization data come from the MCPS capital improvement program, using a 2025-2026 baseline. Boundary change information comes from MCPS Board of Education actions, including the March 26, 2026 adoption of Modified Option H, according to MCPS, and from MCPS community updates. The Countywide Elementary and Middle School Boundary Study timeline comes from MCPS presentations and Bethesda Magazine reporting in July 2026.
Program information comes from MCPS webpages for Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, special programs, enriched and gifted services, and mathematics curriculum. Admissions changes for the Global Ecology Program come from Poolesville Pulse reporting in 2025. The regional programs model information comes from Bethesda Magazine reporting in February 2026 and a follow-up report in March 2026. The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognition dates to 2015. National Merit Scholarship data comes from Montgomery Community Media reporting the 2025 competition. The MCPS Schools at a Glance report provides school-specific data.
Montgomery County Question A on the November 3, 2026 ballot comes from the Maryland State Board of Elections. State law references come from the Maryland General Assembly and the Maryland State Archives.
Figures in this report carry the year of their publication. Where MCPS, MSDE, or Montgomery County has published a more recent figure for the same measure, this report uses the more recent value. Where a comparison requires values from the same publication vintage, the report uses a single consistent source and labels its year.
About SchoolDecision.com
SchoolDecision.com publishes neutral, source-attributed descriptions of public school districts and attendance areas for families making housing decisions. It does not rate, rank, or recommend districts or schools. Every figure in its reports carries the name of the publishing body and the year of publication. The publication draws on federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics, state data from the Maryland State Department of Education, and local data from Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery County government. It describes what is known and lets families decide.
Covered in this report
The schools and districts below are part of the source record used in this report.
- Montgomery County Public Schools