The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in English language arts. The lowest is 53% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Somerset Elementary
Somerset Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in the Chevy Chase community of Montgomery County, Maryland. The school sits in an affluent, primarily residential area originally developed as a streetcar suburb of Washington, D.C., where commerce was historically banned from residential neighborhoods and high minimum house costs were mandated. The community is built out with single-family detached homes on leafy lots, and the commercial activity that exists is concentrated along Connecticut Avenue and the adjacent Friendship Heights shopping district. Housing values in the surrounding ZIP code are high relative to both state and national benchmarks, and rents are also elevated, reflecting the area's desirability and its proximity to employment centers in Washington and Bethesda. The school itself is a neighborhood elementary school integrated into the residential fabric, and it feeds into a middle and high school pathway that serves the Chevy Chase area.
Academically, Somerset Elementary shows strong performance on Maryland's state assessments in English language arts. Across the tested grades, the share of students scoring at the proficient or above level is substantial, and this strength is consistent across the grade levels where data is available. In math, results are more varied. For third grade, proficiency is solidly in the strong range, while fifth grade math proficiency is lower, with about half of students reaching the proficient mark. The fourth grade math result is reported as a range, but the midpoint of that range places it below the highs seen in third grade and below the school's own third-grade math performance. In science, which is tested at fifth grade, slightly more than half of students reached proficiency. The school's overall proficiency across subjects and grades places it among schools with a solid academic profile, though a parent looking at the drop between third and fifth grade math may want to look into this further with the school to understand the pattern.
The student body is small and predominantly white, with Hispanic and Asian students each making up a notable share, Black students a similar share, and a small number of students identifying as two or more races. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is low relative to many schools in the county and consistent with the community's high income profile. The school is a regular public school and is not a charter or magnet school. It receives no Title I designation based on the data available.
Chevy Chase itself is governed by several small municipal entities rather than a single city government, and the area has no traditional downtown of its own. The civic life is spread among the Town of Chevy Chase, Chevy Chase Village, and other villages, each with its own hall or government. Public transit access is available via the Friendship Heights Metro station on the Red Line at the eastern edge of the area, and the community retains brick sidewalks, tree-lined streets, and open parks. The district, Montgomery County Public Schools, has adopted a new elementary literacy curriculum and continues to study school boundaries as part of long-term facilities planning, which families should be aware of as it could affect future attendance zones. For a family considering the area, Somerset Elementary offers a strong literacy program in a high-cost, low-poverty community with consistent academic strength in reading, though math performance at the upper elementary level is more mixed.
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