Best Public Schools in Cambridge, MD

The five public schools in Cambridge, Maryland, part of the Dorchester County Public Schools district, serve 2,496 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in a community facing significant economic challenges, with free and reduced lunch rates averaging 85.8% across reporting schools.

Among the city's schools, Maple Elementary School stands out as the top performer, achieving the only 2-star rating in the district with 19.8% math proficiency and 37.7% English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency—both at or above district averages—despite 79.71% of its students being economically disadvantaged. In contrast, Choptank Elementary School faces the most severe challenges, with a 0-star rating, 94.98% economic disadvantage, and critically low proficiency rates of 3.8% in math and 18.9% in ELA. Cambridge-South Dorchester High School is in crisis, with only 2.8% math proficiency, a 57.5% chronic absenteeism rate, and a 76.7% graduation rate, while Mace's Lane Middle School and Sandy Hill Elementary also struggle with low academic outcomes and high poverty rates.

A key finding is that higher per-student spending—ranging from $20,934 to $25,218—does not guarantee success, as the highest-spending schools like Sandy Hill and Choptank have the lowest performance. Instead, a clear link exists between poverty, chronic absenteeism (city average 43.7%), and low achievement, with Maple Elementary offering a hopeful exception by maintaining a relatively low 24.5% absenteeism rate. This suggests that improving attendance could be a powerful strategy for boosting academic outcomes across the district, though the high school's 20.6% dropout rate and 2.5% Algebra I proficiency highlight the urgent need for systemic intervention.