Original Research by School Decision on Montgomery Knolls Elementary
Montgomery Knolls Elementary serves children from prekindergarten through second grade, making it a starting school for the youngest learners in the Silver Spring area of Montgomery County. Because it serves only the earliest grades, the school does not participate in the state testing program, and no proficiency or growth data is available to report. A reader should not read that absence as a weakness; it is simply the result of the grade band. The school has no graduation rate for the same reason.
The school enrolls a sizable student body for a primary school that ends at second grade. The student population is notably diverse. A majority of students identify as Hispanic, with a substantial share of White and Black students, and smaller numbers of Asian students and students of two or more races. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a marker that the school serves a community with significant economic need.
Montgomery Knolls is a regular public school within Montgomery County Public Schools, the large and well-resourced Maryland district that covers the county. The district recently adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum, Benchmark Advance and HMH Into Reading, which took effect in the 2023-24 school year. That curriculum change sets the reading instruction for every MCPS elementary school, including Montgomery Knolls, and represents a major shift in how children learn to read in these early grades. Families entering the school will encounter this curriculum from the start. The district’s operating budget now accounts for a substantial portion of county spending, a fiscal commitment that shapes what is available in schools and drives local property tax burdens. MCPS is also conducting a systemwide boundary analysis that could eventually affect attendance zones, a process families should be aware of for the long term.
Silver Spring is an urbanized edge city bordering Washington, D.C., and the neighborhood around the school sits within a dense, diverse corridor. The area has experienced significant downtown redevelopment over the past two decades, with mixed-use buildings, a major transit center serving Metro and bus lines, and a concentration of federal employers including NOAA and the FDA. The Purple Line light rail is under construction and expected to open in late 2027, which will connect Silver Spring to Bethesda and College Park. Housing in the zip code that serves the school is priced moderately above the national benchmark, and rents have been climbing modestly. The area is walkable in parts, with creek-valley park systems and the Paul Sarbanes Transit Center as civic anchors.
For a parent considering this school, the central fact is that Montgomery Knolls offers only prekindergarten through second grade. Children will need to transition to another school for third grade and beyond. That makes it a short-term academic home, one focused entirely on the foundational years of early literacy, numeracy, and social development. The school’s diversity and the district’s sizable investment in literacy curriculum are clear strengths. A parent may want to ask what feeder school their child would attend after second grade, how the boundary analysis might affect that pathway, and what supports are in place for the many students who qualify for meal assistance. The lack of state test data is inherent to the grade band, not a gap in program quality. This is a school for families who value an early-years setting with a strong district behind it and who are comfortable planning for a transition by third grade.
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