The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Rossville Elementary
Rossville Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Baltimore County Public Schools system. The school is located on Gum Spring Road in the Baltimore community, in an area that falls within the county rather than the independent city of Baltimore. The enrollment is well above what is typical for an elementary school, with a student population that reflects the diversity of its surroundings. The largest groups of students are Black, followed by white and Asian students; smaller shares identify as Hispanic, two or more races, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a middle-income context relative to the county overall.
On the Maryland state assessments, Rossville Elementary shows a split pattern across subjects. In English language arts, the school performs at a level that many families would find reassuring. Across the three tested grades, the share of students scoring proficient or above is in the range that sits above the midpoint for elementary schools in the county and state. This is a genuine strength; a parent looking at these numbers would see a school where the majority of students are meeting the standard in reading and writing at every tested grade level. The consistency across third, fourth, and fifth grade in ELA suggests the literacy program is delivering broadly stable results.
The picture in mathematics is more uneven and gives a parent something to watch. The proportion of students reaching proficiency in math is markedly lower, and it shifts notably by grade. Third grade math results are closer to the middle of the pack, but the fourth and fifth grade numbers drop off. This is a soft spot. A family with a child who struggles in math would want to ask the school about intervention supports, how math instruction is structured across the upper elementary grades, and whether the school offers any targeted help for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks. In science, the fifth grade results on the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment are also below what one might hope for, though science is tested only once at the elementary level, so the data is limited.
Because the data available here covers only a single school year, it is not possible to see a trend line or tell whether these numbers are improving, holding steady, or slipping. That is a gap a prospective family might want to fill by asking the school or the district for earlier years of test data. The district itself is in the midst of several changes that could affect the experience at Rossville Elementary. Baltimore County Public Schools adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum starting with the school year that aligns with the science of reading, emphasizing phonics and phonemic awareness. That shift is already in place and may help explain the school’s stronger ELA results. The district also implemented a cell phone policy that keeps phones stored and silenced during the school day for elementary students, which is a practical detail for any parent wondering about distractions during class.
Boundary changes recently approved by the county school board affect the Hereford, Dulaney, and Loch Raven high school feeder systems but do not appear to touch Rossville Elementary’s attendance zone directly, based on what has been publicly reported. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a multi-year state plan driving expanded pre-kindergarten, higher teacher salaries, and increased college and career readiness funding, is rolling out across the district and will shape resources and programming at the elementary level in the years ahead. A voter-approved bond issue for school safety improvements is funding secure entrances and security cameras across district schools, so Rossville Elementary is likely to see physical upgrades as part of that initiative.
For a parent or resident sizing up this school, the main takeaway is that Rossville Elementary delivers solid reading results but has a math and science performance that does not match that strength. The school is large for an elementary, which means class sizes and the availability of individual attention are worth checking in person. The housing market in the area shows home values and rents that are moderate by county and state standards, with the typical home costing noticeably less than the statewide benchmark. The broader Baltimore environment offers the amenities of a historic city with a walkable urban core, a major port economy, and top employers anchored by Johns Hopkins, though the city’s population has been slowly declining. The gap between the school’s reading and math outcomes is the central question for any family trying to decide whether this is the right fit.
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