The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Maryland City Elementary
Maryland City Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the western portion of Anne Arundel County, within the Laurel area. The school is a regular public elementary school and is part of the Anne Arundel County Public Schools district.
The student body is about as diverse as any in the region. Hispanic students make up the largest share, approaching three-fifths of the enrollment. Black students account for roughly one-third of the student body. White, Asian, and two-or-more-races students each represent smaller shares. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a figure that places the school well above the typical Anne Arundel County elementary school on this measure. The school's enrollment places it in a mid-sized range for an elementary school in the county.
State assessment results from the most recent testing year are available for mathematics, English language arts, and science. In math, proficiency rates declined across the tested grades, with third-grade students showing the highest performance and fifth-grade students the lowest. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: proficiency rates fell as grade levels increased, with third grade posting the strongest results of the three tested grades. Fifth-grade science results, based on the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment, were below the other subject-area results for that grade. Overall, the school's combined proficiency index was below the midpoint when compared to other elementary schools across the county, and a parent considering this school may want to follow up directly with the school about its academic supports and curriculum approach.
The school community sits within Laurel, a largely residential city with a historic Main Street district. Laurel was founded as a mill town and later became an early commuter hub for Washington and Baltimore after the railroad arrived. The city's built environment includes older mill-era housing near the Patuxent River and postwar suburban development. The historic district remains centered on Main Street, where the Laurel Museum and the Phelps Community Center, housed in the original high school building, serve as civic anchors. A fossil park within the city preserves dinosaur remains from the Cretaceous Era. The Laurel Station provides MARC train service on the Camden Line, connecting residents to both Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The school itself is located on Crumpton South, in a residential area that reflects the broader mix of older and newer housing in the community.
The district recently opened Severn Run High School in the neighboring Severn area, a development that redrew some attendance boundaries and expanded capacity in the western part of the county. That change may affect feeder patterns for some families, though Maryland City Elementary is an early-grade school and its students will eventually move to a middle school and then a high school within the same district system. The district brief did not surface additional large-scale changes or strategic initiatives that directly affect this school.
For a family weighing this school, the peer environment is one where the majority of students qualify for economic assistance and the student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black. The academic proficiency picture, based on the state's most recent testing, shows more ground to cover in math and science than in English language arts at the upper elementary grades. The housing market in the school's zip code shows typical home values near the middle of the range for Anne Arundel County, with rents that have been rising. The combination of the school's student demographics, its academic results, and its location in a commuter-oriented historic town gives a parent a clear set of facts to weigh against their priorities for elementary education.
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