UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — School leaders in Prince George’s County are declaring progress despite some disappointments in a newly released “report card” from Maryland’s State Department of Education.
The report card finds that high schools in the county failed to hit targets for improvement in any category. But elementary schools are a bright spot.
Nearly 75% of Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) saw some gains in academic achievement, with elementary and middle schools leading the way on better math scores, according to the Maryland State Board of Education’s annual report card on school performance.
The state ranks schools every year on a one-to-five star scale. Nearly 73 percent of PGCPS scored 3 stars or more, which is an increase from the previous year.
But for Prince George’s County high schools, the news was not so good. High schools failed to hit any of the annual targets laid out by the state and did not achieve improvement in any of the five categories measured.
Four county high schools -- Duval, Roosevelt, Gwynn Park and Largo -- lost a star in the state’s ranking system. No high schools moved up.
According to state officials, chronic absenteeism proved to be a drag on schools, especially now that the state has returned to using pre-COVID metrics for its report card.
But younger kids are leading the way in Prince George’s County, according to the state report card.
Schools earn between one and five stars based on the percentage of points earned across a series of indicators. For elementary and middle schools, the indicators are:
- Academic achievement
- Academic progress
- Progress in achieving English language proficiency
- School quality
- Student success
For high schools, the indicators are:
- Academic achievement
- Graduation rate
- Progress in achieving English language proficiency
- Readiness for postsecondary success
- School quality
- Student success
Seventy-four percent of the county’s schools showed gains in academic achievement.
Superintendent Millard House III issued a statement saying the chronic absenteeism metrics hurt, but he called the achievement gains "significant."
“Every student deserves a five-star school, and this year’s state report card confirms what we already knew – that our students are moving in the right direction," House said.
Three Prince George's County schools got 5-star ratings: the Academy of Health Sciences High School at Prince George’s County Community College, Glenarden Woods Elementary and Heather Hills Elementary.
This is the fourth year of School Report Cards and the star ratings system. Star ratings were not issued for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. The U.S. Department of Education granted a one-year waiver to the Maryland accountability system for the 2021-2022 school year due to the pandemic, which included adjustments to the student progress and chronic absenteeism measures.