Legends Public Charter School, Lanham MD

Original Research by School Decision on Legends Public Charter School

Legends Public Charter School is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school in Lanham, part of a large county-wide district. As a charter school operating under the Prince George's County Public Schools umbrella, it has flexibility in its programming while remaining publicly funded and accountable to state standards. The school serves a predominantly Black student body, with a modest share of Hispanic students and very small numbers from other racial and ethnic groups. A substantial portion of students qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, indicating that a majority of families are in a lower-income bracket. The school's enrollment is moderate for a K-8 campus, with classrooms that appear to be of typical size for this grade band.

The most notable academic picture emerges from the state assessment results, which are available for a single recent school year. In English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through eight show a mixed pattern. Third grade and sixth grade both post rates that are moderate, while fourth, fifth, seventh, and eighth grade rates are lower. Overall, the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in reading and writing is inconsistent and tends to fall below what many families would hope for, though it is not uniformly low. The weaker area is mathematics, where proficiency rates are quite low across every tested grade. The pattern is clear: from third grade through eighth grade, the proportion of students scoring at proficient or above is very small, and it declines further in the upper grades. Science scores, tested in fifth and eighth grades, are also low, and eighth-grade social studies proficiency is similarly weak. For a parent considering this school, the math results in particular are a serious concern and warrant follow-up with the school about the curriculum, instructional strategies, and targeted interventions being used. Only one year of test data is available for this school, so there is no way to see whether these results represent a trend or a single-year picture.

Because the school serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not have high school programs, so metrics like college readiness or advanced coursework do not apply here. Other data that many families look for, such as chronic absenteeism rates, discipline records, staffing ratios, and teacher qualifications, were not available in the records reviewed, so those topics are not covered in this account.

Lanham itself is a suburban census-designated place in Prince George's County that has grown steadily. It hosts several corporate headquarters and a hospital, and its location near NASA Goddard and the Washington, D.C., area provides an employment base. The area is automobile-dependent, with commercial strips and office parks rather than a walkable downtown. Housing values in the surrounding zip code sit broadly in line with the state median, making it a more affordable option within the Washington metro region, though families should expect that home prices and rents have risen over time. The district that operates this charter school has recently adopted a new literacy curriculum and a significant budget increase, and is undergoing a boundary review, but since Legends is a charter school, the impact of district boundary changes may be different than for traditional neighborhood schools.

This school fits families who prefer a charter school setting with a K-8 structure, meaning students stay in one building through middle school rather than transitioning to a separate middle school campus. The student body draws from a largely low-income and predominantly Black community, and the academic profile is one where reading scores are inconsistent and math scores are a clear area needing improvement. A parent considering Legends should expect to be an active partner in supporting their child's academic growth, particularly in mathematics, and should ask the school directly about what programs, tutoring, or interventions are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 327%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 49%

School 9% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 511%

School 11% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 67%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 75%

School 5% · district not reported

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 84%

School 4% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · district not reported

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 529%

School 29% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 644%

School 44% · district not reported

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Science

Grade 515%

School 15% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 823%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 21% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 6 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-income20%Higher-income13%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income8%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income21%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income17%0 pp gap