The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in English language arts. The lowest is 21% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Berry Elementary School
Berry Elementary School is a regular public school in Waldorf, Maryland, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within the Charles County Public Schools system. It is a large elementary school for its grade band, enrolling students from a community that functions as a major bedroom suburb of Washington, D.C. The student body is diverse. The largest group is Black students, followed by Hispanic students, students who identify as two or more races, Asian students, and White students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places this school near the national average for economic need.
A family looking at this school will want to look closely at the state assessment results, which show a clear picture of the academic challenges. The Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) results for the 2024-25 school year show that in reading, the share of students meeting proficiency was near the midpoint in third and fourth grades, then dropped by a notable margin in fifth grade. In mathematics, proficiency rates were lower across all tested grades and declined as students moved up, with the fifth-grade rate a full tier below the third-grade rate. Fifth-grade science results on the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA) showed a small share of students at the proficient level. These outcomes were below the average for the state and represent a soft spot that a parent may want to explore further with the school. Because this is the only year of testing data available for analysis, no trend can be established, but the pattern across grade levels within a single year is consistent.
The environment around Berry Elementary is shaped by Waldorf’s character as a sprawling, auto-oriented community. There is no traditional downtown or walkable village core. Commercial life is concentrated along U.S. Route 301 and at the St. Charles Towne Center mall. The area was largely built out through the planned community of St. Charles, which grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s and continues to be a major residential zone. Housing values in the school’s zip code were near the midpoint for the state but a step above the national median. Monthly rents placed the area in the higher-cost tier for the region. The local economy depends heavily on commuting to federal, professional services, and healthcare jobs in the Washington metro area, and public transit connections to the district exist through MTA commuter bus routes and a proposed rapid transit line.
The district itself, Charles County Public Schools, operates all public schools in the county. No specific changes or initiatives that would be directly relevant to a family at Berry Elementary were found in publicly available information covering the recent period. The lack of such information does not mean nothing is happening, but a parent may want to ask the school or district directly about any upcoming program or facility plans.
For a family weighing this school, the central facts are the student composition, the scale of the school, and the academic performance pattern. The school serves a large, diverse, and majority-economically-disadvantaged student population. The reading results in the early grades are in the middle range, but the math results are a significant concern, and the downward trend through the grades in both subjects is worth a conversation with the school’s leadership about what instruction and support look like at each grade level. The community setting is suburban and car-dependent, which may matter to a family’s everyday routines. A parent might also consider how Berry’s fifth-grade results feed into the middle school options, since the academic foundation students leave with here sets the stage for the next phase.
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