The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Forest Lakes Elementary
Forest Lakes Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in the unincorporated community of Forest Hill, Maryland, as part of the Harford County Public Schools system. The school is a regular public elementary school with no charter or magnet status. It sits in an area that is a mix of suburban residential neighborhoods and rural land, and the community itself is car-dependent, centered around the intersection of two main roads. There is no dense downtown; the school is distributed within a broader suburban spread.
The student body is not highly diverse in a broad sense. A large majority of students are white, with small shares of Hispanic, multiracial, Black, and Asian students. About a fifth of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a proportion that is relatively low. This suggests a peer environment where economic disadvantage is the experience of a clear minority. No data was available on the share of students receiving special education services or those who are English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the level of support for those populations.
On state assessments, the school shows a pattern of solid performance in English language arts and a more mixed picture in math and science. In third and fourth grade, the share of students scoring proficient or above in reading was notably strong. Fifth-grade reading results were also above the midrange, though the figure was reported as a range. In math, third and fourth grade proficiency was solid, but fifth grade math was a weaker area, with a lower share reaching proficiency. Science results for fifth graders were also modest. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across subjects was moderate when averaged together, but the drop in fifth-grade math and the science performance represent areas where a parent may want to look into how the school supports students in those subjects during the later elementary years.
Because the school only serves elementary grades, there is no high school graduation rate to examine, and chronic absenteeism data was not available. The school does not appear to have a Title I designation, which aligns with the relatively low share of students from low-income households.
The housing market in the zip code where Forest Lakes Elementary is located has home values above the state average, indicating an area that is not inexpensive. Rents are similarly above the national midpoint. The school enrollment is of a size typical for an elementary school in its grade band, and the population in Forest Hill has grown at a modest pace over recent years, as suburban development has extended along the area’s main corridor. No specific new housing projects were identified, but the area has seen gradual expansion as part of the broader Bel Air suburbs.
The district has one notable capital project underway: Homestead-Wakefield Elementary School in Bel Air is being rebuilt as a single-building campus. This does not directly affect Forest Lakes Elementary but signals that the district is investing in facility improvements elsewhere. A new state law called the Keep Students In Class law, which began with the 2024-25 school year, brings changes to how attendance and discipline are handled across all Maryland districts, including Harford County. Families should expect those policies to shape how absences and behavioral issues are addressed.
Because there was only one district in the county in the comparison set, no meaningful academic comparison to neighboring districts was possible. The school stands on its own profile. For a family looking at this school, the key factors are its strong early elementary reading outcomes, a student body that is predominantly white and not economically disadvantaged at a high rate, and a suburban context where car travel is essential. The weaker performance in later-elementary math and science warrants a conversation with school staff about instruction and support in those grades.
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