The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in English language arts. The lowest is 3% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Drew-freeman Middle
Drew-Freeman Middle is a regular public school in Prince George’s County, Maryland, serving grades six through eight. It sits in District Heights, a small, compact municipality roughly ten miles from central Washington, D.C. District Heights is primarily residential, with Cape Cod-style houses from the 1940s, garden apartments, and a modest population that has been fairly stable over recent decades. The city lacks a traditional downtown; commercial activity is concentrated along Marlboro Pike, and most residents commute elsewhere for work, with many heading to federal government jobs in the capital. The school itself is not clustered in a civic core but located on Brooks Drive, part of a broader network of schools serving the area.
The student body is large for a middle school, with enrollment spread nearly evenly across the three grades. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and very small shares of other groups. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation; information on Title I status was not provided in the available data.
State assessment results from the most recent testing year paint a clear picture of the academic challenge at Drew-Freeman. In English language arts, the share of students scoring proficient or above across grades six through eight was in the low to mid-teens overall, with a modest decline at the eighth-grade level. In mathematics, the proficiency rate was very low across all three grades, reaching only a small fraction of students. On the eighth-grade science assessment, the proportion of students meeting the standard was similarly small, and the social studies result was in the same range. These numbers indicate that a large majority of students are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks in core subjects. A parent or guardian considering this school would want to understand what interventions and supports are in place and how the school is working to address these gaps. The data available does not include information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing, which could provide additional context for the academic outcomes.
The school is part of Prince George’s County Public Schools, a large district that has recently adopted a district-wide literacy initiative grounded in the science of reading, increased its operating budget to support teacher salaries and student services, and conducted a boundary review to address overcrowding. These district-level changes may affect Drew-Freeman in the coming years, though specific implications for this middle school are not detailed in the available information.
The housing market in the area around the school reflects a mix of modest single-family homes and rental apartments. Typical home values are below the state average, and rents are roughly in line with broader national trends. The community is served by WMATA bus routes connecting to surrounding neighborhoods and Washington, D.C. The municipal center, senior center, and several parks are nearby, but the setting is not walkable in the sense of a compact commercial district.
For a family evaluating Drew-Freeman Middle, the central takeaway is that the school serves a large, predominantly low-income student body and that proficiency rates on state assessments are very low across all subjects and grade levels. The school’s strengths, if any, are not reflected in the testing data provided here, and no program offerings or extracurricular details were available to round out the picture. A parent may want to visit the school, speak with administrators about academic supports, and learn about the specific initiatives underway to improve student outcomes. The district’s ongoing literacy reform and budget investments could be relevant to that conversation.
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