Runnymede Elementary, Westminster MD

Original Research by School Decision on Runnymede Elementary

Runnymede Elementary is a regular public school in Westminster, Maryland, serving students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits within the Carroll County Public Schools system, which is itself the county’s largest employer. Westminster is a small city that functions as the county seat, with a historic downtown along Main Street, the campus of McDaniel College just adjacent, and county government offices nearby. The area is largely car-dependent; there is no mass transit linking Westminster to Baltimore, about a moderate drive southeast. The housing market in the zip code reflects a market above the national median but consistent with much of Carroll County. A recent community-wide gigabit fiber network was a notable infrastructure investment, but no major new housing developments were identified in available public records.

The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic, Black, Asian, or of two or more races. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a measure that is broadly in line with a school serving a mix of incomes. No data was available on the share of students with disabilities or those learning English, a gap a parent may want to explore directly with the school.

On state assessments, Runnymede Elementary shows a pattern that varies by grade and subject. In both math and English language arts, third and fourth graders met the state standard at a rate that reached or exceeded half of tested students. Fourth-grade English language arts was the strongest single result, with a clear majority of students scoring at proficient or above. Fifth-grade performance was lower across all subjects. In math, just under two in five fifth graders met the standard, and in science, about one in three did. English language arts in fifth grade fell roughly in the middle. The available data covers only a single year, so a year-to-year trend is not yet visible. Because the comparison to districts within Carroll County could not be computed, it is not possible to place these results against local peers; the county measure depends on district-level data, and this school is one among many in a single-district county.

Runnymede Elementary is a regular neighborhood school, not a charter or magnet, and does not appear to have Title I status in the provided data, though that is a detail a family could confirm directly. The school shares the Westminster zip code with other elementary, middle, and high schools in the district, so the feeder pattern will eventually lead to one of the city’s two high schools. For a family considering the area, the school offers a mid-sized elementary setting with a predominantly white student body and a meaningful share of lower-income enrollment. The academic picture is strongest in the early elementary grades, with a noticeable drop-off by fifth grade that a parent may want to investigate further, particularly in math and science. The community itself is walkable only in a small downtown core, and daily life for most residents depends on driving.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 359%

School 59% · district not reported

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · district not reported

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · district not reported

▲ 18 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · district not reported

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · district not reported

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · district not reported

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · district not reported

▲ 14 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolCarroll County Public Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income29%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income36%17 pp gap