The reported proficiency rate for Science is 6%.
Original Research by School Decision on Frederick Douglass High
Frederick Douglass High is a regular public high school serving grades nine through twelve, part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system. The school is located in Upper Marlboro, the county seat, a small incorporated town where government buildings and civic institutions cluster along Main Street. The surrounding Greater Upper Marlboro area is more suburban and rural in character, with housing developments and horse farms, and the area is car-dependent. The school itself sits on Croom Road.
The student body is over a thousand students. The demographic composition is predominantly African American, with a smaller Hispanic share and very small numbers of white, Asian, and multiracial students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a level of economic need that is substantial but not extreme for a large suburban high school. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the record.
State assessment results present a mixed picture. In English language arts, a strong majority of students scored proficient or above on the latest available test. That is a clear strength and suggests the school's literacy instruction is largely effective for most of its students. In mathematics, including algebra, the proficiency rate was very low, and the same low rate appeared in science assessment data. The science data is listed for grade eight, which does not align with the school's grade span of nine through twelve; a parent may want to clarify with the school whether that result is a reporting error or reflects a different testing population. Only a single year of testing data was available, so there is no trend to indicate improvement or decline.
No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism rate, or other outcome measures were reported. The school was not able to be compared with other schools in Prince George's County because the comparison set was too small to produce reliable benchmarks. That means a parent reading this will not see how Douglass stacks up against nearby high schools on proficiency or graduation, a notable gap.
The school does not operate as a charter or magnet. No information was provided on course access, such as Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, or career and technical education programs. Staffing data, discipline data, and attendance figures were also absent. A family evaluating this school will need to seek those details directly from the school or district.
The district itself has made several parent-relevant moves recently. A budget increase in the most recent fiscal year directed more funding toward teacher salaries and student support. A district-wide literacy initiative adopted a new evidence-based reading curriculum aligned with the science of reading, a change that affects how reading is taught across all schools. A boundary review conducted in 2024 proposed changes for the following school year to address overcrowding, which could alter attendance assignments for families in the area. These district-level shifts may have downstream effects on Frederick Douglass High, including staffing, curriculum, and which students attend.
Upper Marlboro, where the school is located, is a small town that functions as the county seat. The downtown is compact and walkable, with a lake and walking path. County government is the dominant employer. The town's development trajectory is stable but shadowed by a long-discussed possibility that the county seat could move to Largo, driven by proximity to Metro and interstate highways. That uncertainty has not yet materialized into a relocation, but it shapes the area's growth outlook.
For a family considering Frederick Douglass High, the evidence available points to a school with a clear strength in English but a soft spot in math and science, with very limited data on graduation, programs, or school climate. A visit and conversation with the school would be necessary to fill in the many missing pieces, especially around course offerings, support services, and postsecondary outcomes.
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