The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Flora M. Singer Elementary
Flora M. Singer Elementary is a regular public school in Silver Spring serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Montgomery County Public Schools. It sits within one of the region’s most established inner suburbs, an unincorporated edge city bordering Washington, D.C., with a dense, walkable downtown core and extensive transit connections including the Red Line Metro, MARC train, and a future Purple Line light rail stop expected in late 2027.
The student body is large for an elementary school and notably diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest share of enrollment, followed closely by White students and then Black students, with smaller populations of Asian students and students of two or more races. About two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a moderate-income context relative to the county overall. The school is not a charter or magnet and does not have Title I status reported.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results show a mixed picture. In English language arts, third graders posted the strongest proficiency rate among the tested grades, with fourth graders also above half proficient, while fifth graders fell below that mark. Combined across grades, ELA proficiency sits around the halfway point. Math results are notably lower: each tested grade from third through fifth posted proficiency rates below the two-fifths mark, with fourth and fifth graders clustered close together. Science results, tested only in fifth grade, are the weakest area, with a proficiency rate below a quarter. The data covers only a single year, so there is no trend to assess yet. A family considering this school may want to ask the school directly about how it supports math and science learning, as those subjects show more room for growth than reading.
The district context matters here. Montgomery County Public Schools is a large, well-resourced system that receives a substantial share of the county budget, and it recently adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum. The district is also conducting ongoing boundary studies, which could eventually affect attendance zones. These are countywide dynamics that apply to Singer as part of the system.
The school’s setting in Silver Spring offers families an urbanized suburban environment. The downtown area has civic landmarks, a major transit center, and mixed-use development, while the surrounding residential neighborhoods inside the Capital Beltway include older single-family homes and apartment buildings. The community is highly diverse, with large foreign-born populations from El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, and China. Housing costs are high, consistent with the Washington region. Several creek-valley parks with trails and playgrounds are nearby. The downtown has seen decades of redevelopment and continues to add transit infrastructure.
Because Singer is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and other secondary-level metrics such as advanced coursework or college readiness do not apply. Civil rights data, chronic absenteeism, and staffing ratios were not available in the data provided. The comparison set for the county’s districts was too small to position Singer relative to its peers on proficiency.
For a family looking at this school, the core takeaway is straightforward. Singer serves a large, diverse elementary population in a strong-district context with new literacy materials countywide. ELA performance is moderate and strongest in the early grades, while math and science achievement is lower, something a parent would want to explore with the school to understand the instructional approach and available supports. The surrounding community is dense, walkable in its core, highly diverse, and well-connected by transit, but carries a high cost of housing. The school fits a family that values demographic diversity and access to a major metropolitan area and is prepared to be engaged around academic outcomes that are uneven across subjects.
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