The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in English language arts. The lowest is 21% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Jessup Elementary
Jessup Elementary is a regular public school in Anne Arundel County serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It sits in Jessup, an unincorporated area shaped by highways, warehouses, distribution centers, and state and federal institutional facilities rather than a traditional downtown or walkable neighborhoods. The school itself draws from this environment, which is heavily industrial and car-dependent, with a MARC commuter rail stop and major truck routes defining daily movement.
On state assessments, Jessup Elementary’s results show a clear gap between reading and math. In English language arts, roughly two out of five third graders met the proficiency bar, just over half of fourth graders did, and nearly half of fifth graders. Overall across tested grades, about half of students scored proficient or above in ELA. Math performance is lower: roughly a quarter of students in grades three through five scored proficient, with a narrow range across those grades. Fifth-grade science results sit around one in five proficient. These are single-year figures from the 2024-25 MCAP and MISA tests, and no prior-year data is available to assess a trend. Families considering Jessup Elementary will likely want to ask the school about instructional supports in math and science, and how the school addresses the gap between those subjects and reading.
The student body is diverse and moderately low-income. Nearly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The largest groups are Hispanic students and Black students, each making up roughly three in ten, followed by White students at about a quarter, and smaller shares of students who are two or more races or Asian. The school enrolls just under six hundred students across seven grade levels, with the largest classes in kindergarten and first grade. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the data, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those programs and supports.
Jessup itself does not fit the picture of a typical suburban bedroom community. Its economy revolves around the Maryland Food Center, correctional facilities, quarrying, and waste management, and its population grew substantially over the past decade. Housing values in the area are above the national median, and rents are high relative to incomes, though the housing context here is a mix of older single-family homes and newer apartment developments. There is no downtown or public library within Jessup; civic life centers on the Ridgley’s Run Community Center and the Jessup Improvement Association. The district, Anne Arundel County Public Schools, recently opened Severn Run High School in the western part of the county, which may eventually affect attendance boundaries, but no changes specific to Jessup Elementary are noted in available sources.
Jessup Elementary serves a community that is more industrial than residential, and its academic results are mixed. The school’s reading proficiency is around the midpoint, while math and science are lower. For a family focused on a diverse, urban-edge elementary school within a large county district, Jessup Elementary offers a straightforward pre-K-to-5 program in a setting that is decidedly not a leafy suburb. Parents who value strong core academic outcomes should dig deeper into how the school supports math and science learning and what enrichment or intervention programs are in place, as the available data leaves those questions open.
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