The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Eva Turner Elementary School
Eva Turner Elementary School is a regular public school in Waldorf, Maryland, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within the Charles County Public Schools system. Waldorf itself is the largest commercial and residential area in Southern Maryland, a sprawling, auto-oriented community that functions primarily as a bedroom suburb for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The school sits in a setting of rapid suburban growth; the planned community of St. Charles, partly financed by a federal housing loan package, fueled much of the residential development that transformed Waldorf from a small crossroads into a dense, highway-lined census-designated place with no incorporated town government. Housing in the area is relatively expensive compared to national norms, and rents are also above average, reflecting the area’s proximity to D.C. jobs.
State testing results from the 2024-25 school year, the only year for which data is available, show that student proficiency on the Maryland state assessments was low across all tested subjects and grades. In mathematics, proficiency rates were well below a quarter in third grade, extremely low in fourth grade, and similarly low in fifth grade. In English language arts, proficiency was also low across all three grade levels tested, with no grade reaching a quarter of students scoring proficient. Fifth-grade science results followed the same pattern. The combined school-wide proficiency rate for math was about one in nine students, and for ELA about one in six. A parent considering this school would want to look into these results further with the school and district to understand what instructional supports are in place and what recent trends look like, as only a single year of data is available.
The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic minority and a small share of white students and students of two or more races. More than two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating that the school serves a population with significant economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available records, so a parent with a child in either group should ask the school directly about its staffing and program capacity.
The district brief for Charles County Public Schools yielded no specific parent-relevant changes or recent initiatives that met the threshold for inclusion, so a family looking for recent shifts in curriculum, boundary lines, or policies would need to consult district communications directly. The school’s own website was not reviewed as part of the available data, so program details such as enrichment offerings, after-school activities, or special education services are not captured here.
Because it serves only early elementary grades, Eva Turner Elementary has no graduation rate to report, and the grade band means the state testing data covers only the core subjects assessed at those levels. No comparison to other schools in Charles County is possible here because the school is the only entity in the county for which these metrics were computed, so the reader cannot use a local peer benchmark.
In sum, Eva Turner Elementary is a high-poverty, majority-Black elementary school in a fast-growing outer-D.C. suburb with expensive housing and a commuter-oriented daily life. The academic proficiency numbers are markedly low, and a family accustomed to higher-performing schools would want to investigate the school’s curriculum, intervention strategies, and recent improvement initiatives before enrolling. For a family that values a diverse student body and a neighborhood school in a growing suburban area, the basic setting may be a fit, but the academic results warrant close attention.
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