Magnolia Elementary, Lanham MD - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Magnolia Elementary

Magnolia Elementary is a regular public school in Lanham, Maryland, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of Prince George's County Public Schools, a large district that has been working through a period of investment and change. The school sits in an unincorporated census-designated place that blends residential subdivisions with office parks and corporate headquarters; several companies including an edtech firm and a grocery chain are based here, and Doctors Community Hospital is nearby. Lanham has a suburban character with a heavy reliance on automobiles, and its population has grown over recent decades. Housing values in the area sit around the state average, while rents are moderate relative to incomes.

The school enrolls a moderate number of students for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting a community with significant economic diversity but also a concentration of lower-income households. Racially and ethnically, the student body is predominantly Black, with a sizable Hispanic minority and smaller shares of Asian, white, and other groups. No official data on special education or English learner enrollment was available in the provided records, a gap a parent may want to follow up on directly.

Academically, state test results from the most recent year show that proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science are all well below typical levels. In math, the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations across grades three, four, and five is very low. In English language arts, proficiency is somewhat higher but still below what many families expect, with about a quarter of third graders and a fifth of fourth and fifth graders reaching the bar. In fifth-grade science, the proficiency rate is similarly low. Only one year of testing data was available in the source material, so a multi-year trend cannot be assessed at this time. For a parent exploring this school, these numbers are a clear signal that the school faces significant academic challenges, and it would be reasonable to ask what instructional supports and interventions are in place.

The district, Prince George's County Public Schools, has recently approved a budget increase that directs more funding toward teacher salaries and student support services, a publicly reported change. It has also rolled out a district-wide literacy initiative aligned with the science of reading, which could have bearing on how reading is taught at Magnolia. A boundary review was conducted in 2024 with proposed changes for the coming school year; parents considering the area should stay aware of possible assignment shifts.

No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing was available for this school, and because the school is the only one in its comparison cohort within the county, broader relative benchmarks could not be calculated. That said, the core picture is straightforward: Magnolia Elementary serves a diverse, majority low-income student body in a suburban setting with a strong employment base nearby, but its state test results are markedly low. A family weighing this school will want to learn directly about the school's approach to accelerating learning and whether the district's new literacy initiative is reaching the classroom.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 38%

School 8% · district not reported

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 55%

School 5% · district not reported

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 421%

School 21% · district not reported

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

Grade 517%

School 17% · district not reported

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Science

Grade 58%

School 8% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below 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-income10%Higher-income20%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income42%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income49%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income15%Higher-income9%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income7%Higher-income20%12 pp gap