The reported proficiency rate for Science is 20%.
Original Research by School Decision on Duval High
Duval High serves grades nine through twelve in Lanham, an unincorporated community in Prince George’s County with a suburban texture of residential neighborhoods, office parks, and commercial strips. The school is part of the Prince George’s County Public Schools district. Lanham is home to several corporate headquarters and Doctors Community Hospital, and its proximity to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the New Carrollton Metro and Amtrak station shapes the area’s employment and commuting patterns. The community has seen modest population growth in recent decades, and housing values in the zip code area sit near the statewide benchmark, with monthly rents and mortgage costs that many families will need to weigh against their budgets.
This is a large comprehensive high school. The student body is diverse, with about half of students identified as Black and just over two-fifths as Hispanic, along with small shares of Asian, white, and multiracial students. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals is substantial, a marker of the economic context many families bring with them. The district itself approved increased operating funding in recent years, directed partly toward teacher salaries and student support, and has adopted a district-wide literacy initiative and conducted a boundary review that may affect attendance zones.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed. In English language arts, a bit above half of students met the proficiency standard. In mathematics, the share was far lower, and in science, a small fraction of students reached the proficient mark. These results come from a single year of testing, so there is no trend line to show whether performance is improving or declining. A parent looking at these outcomes will want to ask the school about its approach to math and science instruction, what support is available for students who are below grade level, and how the school tracks progress over time.
The school offers the standard high school curriculum, but the data provided does not include information on Advanced Placement, career and technical education pathways, or dual-enrollment programs. A family interested in those offerings should check with the school directly. Similarly, there is no information available on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or the share of students receiving special education or English learner services. These gaps mean that a parent will need to gather this information from the school or from the district’s reporting to get a full picture of the environment their child would experience.
The graduation rate was not available in the data. For a high school, this is an important indicator of whether students are finishing on time, and its absence is worth noting. A parent may want to ask the school for its most recent graduation and dropout rates directly.
Duval High sits in a community where families have access to a range of local employers and civic anchors, but where the built environment is car-dependent and lacks a traditional walkable downtown. The school itself is a large institution serving a diverse, predominantly low-income student population. Its academic results present clear areas of strength in English language arts and significant challenges in math and science that a family would want to understand before enrolling. The district’s recent budget and curriculum investments may bring changes in the coming years, but the school-level data available here does not yet show their impact.
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