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James H. Harrison Elementary

Public Grades PK, KG-5
735th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 865 Maryland Elementary Schools
Better than 15% of Maryland elementary schools
Summary

James H. Harrison Elementary is a public elementary school in Laurel, Maryland, serving 301 students in grades PK-5 as part of the Prince George's County Public Schools district.

The school faces significant challenges, including consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, well below-average test scores in mathematics and English language arts compared to the state and nearby schools like Brock Bridge Elementary and Monarch Global Academy PCS Laurel Campus. James H. Harrison Elementary also struggles with low performance for certain student subgroups, such as Hispanic students and English Language Learners.

Despite having a relatively low student-teacher ratio of 9:1 and high per-student spending of $28,654, the school has seen a steady decline in its statewide ranking, dropping from 401 out of 862 Maryland elementary schools in 2021-2022 to 735 out of 865 in 2024-2025. This suggests the need for a comprehensive review of the school's operations, resource allocation, and targeted interventions to address the root causes of its underperformance.

304
Students ?
10.0
Student/teacher ratio ?
$28,654
Per pupil spending ?
91.4%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 13200 Larchdale Rd
       Laurel, MD  20708-1744

(301) 497-3650

District: Prince George's County Public Schools


Students who attend James H. Harrison Elementary usually attend:

Middle:    Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle
High:    Laurel High
Racial breakdown:

Hispanic:
57.6%
African American:
32.2%
Asian:
3.6%
more
 See top rated Maryland elementary schools

 Compare James H. Harrison Elementary to nearby elementary schools!
At a glance
Ranking trend: Declining — 33rd percentile in 2015 → 15th in 2025
Strengths
Small classes — about 10 students per teacher
Worth a look
!Test scores below the Maryland average (18% vs 38% meeting standards)
!In the lower quartile statewide (15th percentile)
!Ranking has slipped — down 18 percentile points since 2015
Students meeting standards (2024-2025) ?
This school18%
District avg25%
Maryland avg38%
735th of 865
Maryland public elementary schools ?
Bottom 15%▼ down 18 pts since 2015
From bottom 33% (2015) to bottom 15% (2025)
See the entire ranking list of Maryland Elementary Schools →
SchoolDigger rating ?
94th of 136Elementary Schools in the Prince George's County Public Schools
22nd of 25Prince George's County Public Schools among Maryland districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202516.7735 of 86515.0%★☆☆☆☆
202420.2650 of 85924.3%★☆☆☆☆
202344.9409 of 85552.2%★★★☆☆
202249.7401 of 86253.5%★★★☆☆
202123.3568 of 80229.2%★☆☆☆☆
201926.5582 of 85331.8%★★☆☆☆
201838.5484 of 85743.5%★★☆☆☆
201736.0506 of 84740.3%★★☆☆☆
201622.2650 of 84523.1%★☆☆☆☆
201529.9579 of 85932.6%★★☆☆☆
201440.2596 of 86731.3%★★☆☆☆
201314.0775 of 8478.5%☆☆☆☆☆
201242.4567 of 85733.8%★★☆☆☆
201144.4526 of 85338.3%★★☆☆☆
201025.6719 of 85515.9%★☆☆☆☆
200916.1786 of 8507.5%☆☆☆☆☆
200810.3804 of 8384.1%☆☆☆☆☆
200783.980 of 81890.2%★★★★★
200685.467 of 80491.7%★★★★★
200585.383 of 80589.7%★★★★☆
200478.5158 of 80380.3%★★★★☆

African American

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202144.2228 of 50454.8%★★★☆☆

English Language Learner

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202129.684 of 11527.0%★☆☆☆☆

Female

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202136.5419 of 79647.4%★★☆☆☆

Hispanic

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202123.3304 of 34712.4%★☆☆☆☆

Low Socio Economic Status

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202149.6208 of 54661.9%★★★☆☆

Male

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMaryland percentileRating
202117.2676 of 78814.2%★☆☆☆☆
How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)
Low Socio Economic Status (2021)62nd percentile+33 vs school
African American (2021)55th percentile+26 vs school
Female (2021)47th percentile+18 vs school
English Language Learner (2021)27th percentile~ school
Male (2021)14th percentile-15 vs school
Hispanic (2021)12th percentile-17 vs school
By subject vs Maryland (2024-2025) ?
English Language Arts26%-25 vs state
Mathematics14%-13 vs state
Science8%-18 vs state

5.0
1 rating · 1 written review
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What people are saying
by a parent
Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Open Quote My daughter is currently a kindergarten student at James Harrison and so far, we love the school and her teacher! She was already reading small words when she first began attending here, but now she is doing VERY WELL with her reading and her handwriting has improved greatly. My youngest child is 4 and will also attend here for Kindergarten next year. Now, I can say so far the administration seems to want to do a good job, but I haven't had a great experience with their response times to specific issues I've run into in using the online School MAX program. Luckily my child's teacher is great with communicating outside of this tool, so I don't think I've missed much. As time passes, I'll gladly update on our experience moving forward. Close Quote





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Frequently Asked Questions about James H. Harrison Elementary

James H. Harrison Elementary ranks in the bottom 15.0% of Maryland elementary schools.

Students who attend James H. Harrison Elementary usually go on to attend:

Middle : Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle
High : Laurel High

In the 2024-25 school year, 304 students attended James H. Harrison Elementary.

Students at James H. Harrison Elementary are 58% Hispanic, 32% African American, 4% Asian, 3% White, 3% Two or more races.


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Maryland State Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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