The top reported proficiency rate is 65% in Math. The lowest is 36% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Mount Airy Elementary
Mount Airy Elementary is a regular public school in Carroll County, Maryland, serving third through fifth grade. It sits in the town of Mount Airy, a primarily residential bedroom community straddling the Frederick and Carroll county line. The town functions as a commuter suburb for both the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. metro areas, with a high owner-occupied housing rate and a highly educated population. Its hilly ridge-top setting along Main Street and access to Interstate 70 and US-40 make it a commuter-oriented place. The town is experiencing modest growth of late, and housing values here are notably high, making the local housing market a significant factor for any family considering a move into the school’s attendance area.
The school itself enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial share of students identifying as Hispanic and smaller shares identifying as Black or Asian. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which is a lower share than is typical across the state, reflecting the community’s overall economic profile. The school is not a charter or magnet and does not appear to be a Title I school. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school about the support structures in place for those groups.
On state assessments, Mount Airy Elementary’s results are mixed but lean toward the stronger side in English language arts. In third grade, a majority of students met or exceeded the proficiency bar on the MCAP reading test, and fourth and fifth graders posted similar results, with just over half to about three-fifths reaching the proficient level. Math results were more uneven. Third graders performed well, with roughly two-thirds of students scoring proficient or above. Fourth and fifth graders, however, showed a noticeable drop, with results falling closer to the lower half of the range. The fifth-grade science test, which is administered through the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment, produced results where just over a third of students tested proficient, a figure that is below the school’s performance in reading and math. A parent considering the school may want to ask the principal how math instruction is being addressed for the upper grades and what the school’s science curriculum looks like in elementary years.
Because this is an upper-elementary school only, there is no graduation rate, and the school does not offer high school programs such as Advanced Placement courses or career pathways. The academic comparison data could not place the school relative to other Carroll County districts because only one school-level entity was in the cohort, so no local peer benchmarks are available here. The district itself, Carroll County Public Schools, did not have any major parent-relevant changes or initiatives turn up in public records, so the district context is stable but largely undocumented in terms of recent shifts.
For a family weighing Mount Airy Elementary, the strengths are a solid reading program across all three grades and a strong start in third-grade math, all set in a well-off, low-poverty community with high housing costs. The soft spots are the decline in math performance as students move up and the low science proficiency rate. A parent whose child struggles in math or science may want to investigate what interventions and enrichment the school provides. The school fits a family looking for a traditional elementary experience in a commuter suburb with high property values and strong local demand for housing.
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