Beacon Heights Elementary, Riverdale MD

Original Research by School Decision on Beacon Heights Elementary

Beacon Heights Elementary is a regular public school in Riverdale, Maryland, serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. It is part of Prince George's County Public Schools, a large district that has recently approved a budget increase with additional funding for teacher salaries and student support, adopted a district-wide literacy initiative aligned with the science of reading, and conducted a boundary review that could affect school assignments starting in the 2025–2026 school year. For families choosing a school, these district-level shifts may influence class sizes, curriculum, and catchment areas.

The student body is diverse and predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial Black population and smaller shares of white and Asian students. A very high proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a school community with significant economic need. The school is located in Riverdale Park, a semi-urban streetcar suburb with a mix of housing stock—turn-of-the-century dwellings, pre- and post-World War II houses, and 1960s apartment buildings. Commercial development is concentrated along Baltimore Avenue, where the Riverdale Park Station mixed-use development includes a Whole Foods Market. The town has a historic grid layout centered on the Riversdale mansion, good transit access via MARC and bus, and two Purple Line light rail stations planned to open in the near future. Housing values in the area are moderate relative to the broader region, and rents are typical for the county. Major employers include the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Maryland at College Park nearby.

On state assessments, Beacon Heights Elementary shows a mixed picture. In English language arts, results improve noticeably across the tested grades: where roughly one in four third graders met proficiency, the share climbs to more than two in five in fourth grade and approaches half in fifth grade. In mathematics, proficiency is lower and stays low across grades, with about one in five students meeting the bar or fewer at each tested level. On the fifth-grade science assessment, roughly one in five students scored proficient. The school serves only elementary and middle grades, so there is no graduation rate to consider, and because only one year of testing data was available, trends cannot be assessed. Chronic absenteeism and special education or English learner data were not reported, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports and attendance patterns.

The school’s academic challenges are characteristic of a high-poverty setting, and the upward trajectory in reading through the grades is a point to note. A family considering Beacon Heights Elementary will want to understand what interventions and enrichment are in place, particularly in math, and how the district’s literacy initiative is being implemented at the school level. For residents of Riverdale Park or nearby neighborhoods, the school offers a neighborhood option within a diverse, transit-connected community that is seeing ongoing development and infrastructure investment.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 321%

School 21% · district not reported

▼ 16 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 417%

School 17% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · district not reported

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Science

Grade 522%

School 22% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolPrince George's County Public Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income9%Higher-income12%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income10%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income37%14 pp gap