Original Research by School Decision on Bladensburg High
Bladensburg High is a very large comprehensive public high school serving students in grades nine through twelve in Bladensburg, a dense residential suburb of Washington, D.C. situated on the Anacostia River. It is part of Prince George’s County Public Schools, a large district that recently adopted a new evidence-based literacy curriculum and conducted a boundary review to address overcrowding.
The school enrolls over two thousand students from a community shaped by early twentieth-century subdivisions like Decatur Heights and Sunnybrook, mid-century apartment complexes and single-family homes, and ongoing revitalization efforts. Bladensburg’s historic core includes colonial-era structures, and newer civic anchors such as the Bladensburg Waterfront Park and a library branch that opened in 2023. The town’s population density is high, and major surface roads carry significant traffic.
The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, making up the large majority of enrollment, with a substantial share of Black students and very small numbers of other racial and ethnic groups. A very high proportion of students come from low-income households, based on eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, though the demographics suggest that a significant number of students may be English learners.
State testing results provide a limited picture. For the 2020-21 school year, which was disrupted by the pandemic and used a different assessment schedule, proficiency rates in both math and science were very low, with fewer than one in ten students scoring proficient. More recent English language arts results, from the 2024-25 school year, show about a third of students at the proficient level. This single data point offers no trend, so it is unclear whether performance is improving. The school’s graduation rate was not available in the data provided, which is a gap a parent may want to investigate directly with the school.
The high poverty rate and the linguistic diversity of the student body are important context for interpreting these scores, but the school itself does not appear to offer unusually deep program offerings in the available data. As a regular public high school within a large district, it follows the standard course of study. No information was available about advanced coursework, career and technical education pathways, or dual-enrollment opportunities.
For a parent or resident considering this school, a few key characteristics stand out. Bladensburg High is a large school in a town that is part of a cluster of historic port communities with a walkable core and recent investments in public spaces. The student body is heavily Hispanic and low-income. Academic performance, based on the limited testing data that exists, is weak in math and science and moderate in English language arts. Because the graduation rate is missing from the available record, families should ask about on-time completion rates and how the school supports students toward graduation. Given the large enrollment and the district’s recent work on literacy and boundaries, a parent should expect a school that is actively adapting to serve its population but facing significant challenges in raising achievement.
See more original research from School Decision →