The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Pershing Hill Elementary
Pershing Hill Elementary sits on the grounds of Fort Meade, the large U.S. Army installation in Anne Arundel County. The school serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade and is one of several Anne Arundel County Public Schools located directly on the post. Fort Meade is dominated by federal government and military operations, particularly the National Security Agency, U.S. Cyber Command, and the Defense Information Systems Agency, and the community is a self-contained one with residential housing, a post exchange, chapels, and other facilities inside the gates. The population that lives on-post includes service members, retirees, civilian employees, contractors, and their families. The school itself is a regular public school with no charter status, and it serves a grade band that has no graduation rate because graduation is not a relevant measure for elementary schools.
The student body at Pershing Hill is diverse. White students make up the largest share of the enrollment, followed by Hispanic students and then Black students. The rest of the population includes students who identify as two or more races, along with smaller numbers of Asian students and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The proportion of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a common indicator of economic need, is modest, reaching less than a quarter of the school's population. The school's total enrollment is substantial for an elementary school serving only these grades.
On state assessments, Pershing Hill's results show a clear pattern. In English language arts, the school posts a mixed record depending on the grade level. A strong majority of third graders meet or exceed the state's proficiency standard, a solid result that stands out. Fourth graders perform at a level where just over half reach proficiency, and fifth graders come in just below that same mark. The combined outcome across all tested grades puts the school in a moderate position for reading. In mathematics, the numbers decline more sharply as students get older. Third graders show proficiency at a rate that is under half. Fourth graders perform below that, and fifth graders drop further, with only a small share of students scoring at the proficient level. The overall math picture is one where the school would benefit from attention, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what supports are in place. In science, tested only in fifth grade, the proficiency rate is low. The data for Pershing Hill provides a single year of assessment results, so there is no trend information available to show whether these numbers are improving or declining from prior years. The absence of a multi-year trend means a parent cannot judge direction from this snapshot alone.
The school is part of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, a large district that recently opened a new comprehensive middle school called Severn Run High School in the growing western part of the county. That construction expanded capacity and redrew attendance boundaries for some families, a change that may not directly affect Fort Meade residents but signals growth in the area. Because Pershing Hill is the only school in the comparison set, no meaningful comparison could be made against other districts in Anne Arundel County for overall proficiency or other metrics. That lack of a comparative anchor means a parent has less context than usual for judging this school against its neighbors; the numbers stand on their own.
Fort Meade itself is a secured installation. All vehicles are subject to identification checks, and visitors without a military or federal credential must use a specific gate and pass a background check. The NSA operates a shuttle for authorized personnel. There is no traditional downtown or walkable commercial district inside the gates; the school is one of seven on-post schools that serve military families. The installation's growth trajectory is centered on expanding its cyber operations mission, with the East Campus buildout and additional partner agencies moving in, which means the community is likely to see continued residential and economic activity. For a family considering Pershing Hill, the distinguishing factor is the setting: a school within a military base where most families have a direct connection to the defense and intelligence community, and where school life is shaped by that concentrated, federally oriented environment.
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