The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in English language arts. The lowest is 21% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Longfellow Elementary
Longfellow Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Columbia, Maryland, part of Howard County Public Schools. Columbia is a large planned community of ten villages, built around the idea of self-contained neighborhoods connected by an extensive pathway network. The community is primarily residential with village centers and a downtown commercial district around Lake Kittamaqundi and The Mall. The census data describe Columbia as an affluent, highly educated suburb, with a substantial share of adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher and median household incomes well above national averages. Home values and rents reflect this demand; the housing market is expensive, and the area has seen sustained price growth. Columbia is largely built out, so new development is concentrated in the downtown redevelopment area, where apartment construction and mixed-use projects are adding density.
Longfellow Elementary itself is a mid-sized school for its grade band. Enrollment draws a diverse student body: the largest groups are Black students, followed by Hispanic students, White students, and smaller shares of Asian students and students of two or more races. A significant portion of students—roughly two out of every five—qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating that while the surrounding community is affluent, the school serves a noticeable number of families with lower household incomes.
Academically, Longfellow’s state assessment results show a pattern of lower attainment across subjects. On the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, proficiency rates in math and English language arts for grades three through five generally fell between roughly a quarter and a half of students meeting the standard. The strongest area was fourth-grade English language arts, where close to half of students scored proficient or above. In fifth-grade science, administered through the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment, about one in five students reached proficiency. These rates are well below what many families would expect from a school in a district known for strong academic outcomes. A parent considering Longfellow may want to ask the school about interventions and support programs for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, particularly in math and science, where the numbers are lowest. The data cover only one school year, so no trend is available to see whether performance is improving or declining.
The district context matters. Howard County Public Schools has undertaken a strategic plan focused on attendance, reading by grade three, middle school math proficiency, college and career readiness, and discipline practices—all aligned with Maryland’s Blueprint for the Future. A new high school, Guilford Park, opened in recent years, shifting attendance boundaries in parts of the county. The district has also increased starting teacher salaries and overall staff pay significantly, which has pushed up per-pupil spending and the district’s operating budget. These district-level investments may eventually lead to additional resources at the elementary level, but the current school-level data do not yet reflect a clear academic turnaround at Longfellow.
For a family looking at Longfellow, the school sits in a community with strong amenities—parks, pathways, libraries, and a robust transit connection to Baltimore and Washington—but the academic profile is a soft spot relative to the county’s reputation. The student body is diverse and includes a sizable share of low-income students, which can bring both challenges and strengths depending on a family’s priorities. The housing market in Columbia is expensive, so the school’s attendance zone likely includes a mix of higher-value homes and more modestly priced rentals or older housing stock. The strategic plan and salary increases signal that the district is focused on improvement, but for now, a parent would want to engage directly with the school about academic support, class sizes, and enrichment offerings—areas where the provided data are thin.
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