The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in English language arts. The lowest is 11% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Shady Spring Elementary
Shady Spring Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Baltimore County, part of the Baltimore County Public Schools system. It sits in a residential pocket of eastern Baltimore County, within the broader Baltimore metropolitan area. The school is of moderate size for its grade band, with a diverse student body that is predominantly Black and Hispanic, alongside smaller shares of White, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a marker of the economic circumstances many families in the attendance zone face.
The academic picture comes from Maryland’s state assessments, the MCAP for math and English language arts and the MISA for science, administered in the 2024-2025 school year. Across the three tested grades, the share of students scoring proficient or above in ELA ranged from about a quarter of third graders to roughly a third of fourth and fifth graders. In math, proficiency rates were lower across the board, declining from roughly a fifth of third graders to about a sixth of fourth graders and about a tenth of fifth graders. In fifth-grade science, about a tenth of students reached proficiency. The school’s combined proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits at a level that families should weigh carefully; a large majority of students are not yet meeting the state’s proficiency benchmarks. Only one year of data was available, so there is no trend line to show whether performance is improving or declining. A parent may want to ask the school about specific academic interventions and support programs, especially in math and science, and about how the school is working to raise achievement.
The school’s demographic context is important context for those proficiency numbers. Research consistently shows that schools serving high concentrations of students from low-income households face additional challenges. Shady Spring Elementary’s enrollment reflects that reality. Beyond that, the data does not include information on special education identification rates, English learner counts, chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios. Those are notable gaps for a parent trying to understand the full learning environment. The school has no high school grades, so graduation rate is not applicable.
The wider district is in the midst of several changes that affect this school. Baltimore County Public Schools adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, shifting to a science-of-reading approach that emphasizes phonics and phonemic awareness. That curriculum is now in place at Shady Spring Elementary and may influence reading outcomes in future years. A district-wide cell phone policy restricting phone use during instructional time took effect in 2024-2025. The system is also implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a state plan that expands pre-K access (relevant to the school’s prekindergarten program), raises teacher salaries, and boosts funding. Baltimore County voters approved a bond issue for school safety and security upgrades, which may have funded infrastructure improvements at the school. Boundary changes affecting some high school feeder systems were approved for the 2025-2026 school year, but those apply at the secondary level and do not directly change Shady Spring’s attendance zone.
The housing market in the school’s zip code falls in a middle range for the region. Home values and rents have shown some recent growth. The area’s affordability relative to incomes is in line with national patterns, though monthly mortgage costs outpace rents. The broader Baltimore region is a historically rich, walkable city with a service-oriented economy anchored by Johns Hopkins Hospital and University and the Port of Baltimore. Its population has experienced a slight decline in recent years. Downtown and the Inner Harbor are the civic and commercial core, while the school’s neighborhood is more suburban in character, a typical eastern county residential area.
On balance, Shady Spring Elementary offers a pre-K through fifth grade program within a large district that is pursuing system-wide reforms in literacy, funding, and safety. Its academic results are a soft spot that warrants a direct conversation with school leadership about improvement efforts, especially given the high level of economic need among students. Families looking at this school should also seek out the missing pieces: classroom experience, teacher stability, extracurricular offerings, and how the new district initiatives are playing out at the school level day to day.
See more original research from School Decision →