The reported proficiency rate for Science is 0%.
Original Research by School Decision on Robert D. Stethem Educational Center
Robert D. Stethem Educational Center serves as Charles County Public Schools’ alternative school for students in grades five through twelve. It sits on Marshall Corner Road in Pomfret, a small, unincorporated census-designated place in central Charles County that is rural and low-density with no downtown core. Pomfret’s population has been essentially flat in recent decades, and the built environment consists of historic farm properties, scattered homes, and a handful of institutional anchors including a Catholic church, a county dive rescue station, and a park just outside the CDP. Most working residents commute to La Plata or Waldorf for employment in education, health care, or government.
This school is fundamentally different from a traditional comprehensive school. It is an alternative school, which means it is designed for students who have not been successful in a conventional classroom setting, often because of behavioral, disciplinary, or academic challenges. A parent considering this placement should understand that it is a specialized setting, not a neighborhood school one chooses for a typical academic pathway.
The data available for Stethem is very thin. Enrollment figures show zero for every grade, which is likely a data reporting gap or the school operates on an atypical enrollment model where students cycle through. The state testing results are either suppressed or reported as zero. In the one case where a figure was released, for eighth-grade science on the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment, zero percent of the students who took the test scored at the proficient level or above. For math and English language arts across grades six through eight, the results are suppressed by the state, which typically happens when the number of tested students is too small to report publicly without risking student identification. The multi-year trend data shows a single data point for English language arts: about five percent proficient, based on a single year.
A graduation rate was not available. That is not unusual for a school of this type, as many alternative schools serve a transient population or have students who transfer back to a home school to earn a diploma. It is not clear from the data what the school’s own graduation pathway looks like.
The neighborhood comparison could not place Stethem relative to other schools in Charles County because the cohort of schools available for comparison was too small. There is no way to benchmark this school against its peers using the available metrics.
No information was provided on student demographics, free or reduced-price meal eligibility, special education or English learner populations, discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course offerings. A parent would want to ask the school directly about these topics, as they are central to understanding the population served and the student experience.
The district itself, Charles County Public Schools, had no parent-relevant changes that were publicly reported in the recent period that met the bar for including in this brief.
In short, Robert D. Stethem Educational Center is an alternative school serving a specific and often vulnerable student population. The academic performance data that does exist shows very low proficiency rates, and most results are suppressed due to small numbers. This is a school that a family typically arrives at through a referral or placement process rather than by choice, and a parent considering or navigating this placement would want to have a direct conversation with the school about its academic program, support services, and what a successful transition back to a traditional school or to a diploma looks like.
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