The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Old Forge Elementary
Old Forge Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade and is part of Washington County Public Schools, located in Hagerstown, Maryland. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. This profile draws on the most recent data available.
Hagerstown itself functions as a commercial and industrial hub for a tri-state region that includes western Maryland, south-central Pennsylvania, and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. The city has a walkable historic downtown with an Arts and Entertainment District, yet the broader area is largely auto-oriented, shaped by Interstates 81 and 70. The metropolitan area has been growing rapidly, and the school district has responded with a redistricting plan that takes effect in the 2025-2026 school year, redrawing elementary school attendance boundaries primarily in the Hagerstown area to address capacity imbalances. A school construction bond referendum has also been approved, funding a new elementary school and major renovations to existing buildings. These changes may affect which school a child attends and where families choose to live.
The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and a still smaller share of Black students. There are very few Asian or Native American students. A substantial share of students at Old Forge qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating a meaningful degree of economic diversity.
State testing results from the MCAP assessments for the 2024-25 school year provide a view of academic performance. In reading, the share of students scoring at the proficient or above level was above the midpoint in third grade, slipped to just under half in fourth grade, and then rose to a strong level in fifth grade. In math, the pattern was similar: a solid result in third grade, a softer result in fourth grade, and an improved showing in fifth grade. Fifth graders also took the state science assessment, where the share reaching proficiency was lower. There is only a single year of data available for both reading and math, so it is not possible to see a trend.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios. The school’s grade span ends at fifth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report.
For families considering Old Forge, the primary question is whether the academic patterns align with their expectations. The school’s performance is not uniform across grades or subjects; reading and math results in fourth grade give a parent a reason to ask the school what additional support is available at that level. The fifth-grade reading result, by contrast, is a genuine strength. The science result is a soft spot, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school.
The broader district context matters here. Washington County is in the middle of implementing the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a state reform law that is expanding pre-K access, raising teacher salaries, and developing career technology programs. That kind of investment signals an active district. At the same time, the redistricting means that the attendance boundaries for Old Forge may shift, so any family relying on this school as a neighborhood option should confirm the current boundaries, especially given the timeline.
Housing values in the area are moderately below the state median, and rents are rising. The typical home in the zip code is priced at a level that is more accessible than many parts of the state, though rising mortgage rates have made the monthly cost of owning comparable to renting. For a family looking for a school with a mix of solid and uneven academic results in a growing, mid-sized city that is the commercial anchor of its region, Old Forge is worth a closer look, particularly a conversation with the school about how it addresses the grade-level dips that show up in the test data.
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