Best Public Schools in Laurel, MD

The city of Laurel, Maryland, is served by 19 schools spanning elementary, middle, and high school grades, split across three distinct districts: Prince George's County Public Schools, Howard County Public Schools, and Anne Arundel County Public Schools, creating a landscape of stark educational contrasts within a single city.

The top-performing schools are all in the Howard County portion of Laurel. Hammond Elementary ranks in the 84th percentile statewide with strong math and English scores, while Hammond Middle excels with a 70.6% English proficiency rate and exceptionally high Algebra I and Geometry scores. In contrast, schools in Prince George's County face significant challenges. James H. Harrison Elementary is the most challenged, with the lowest math proficiency in the city (11.5%) and the highest rate of economic disadvantage. A notable exception is Chesapeake Math and IT Public Charter, an alternative K-12 school that outperforms its district and often the state, driven by the lowest chronic absenteeism rate in the city (14.1%). The only traditional high school, Laurel High, is a critical weak point with a 20.2% dropout rate and a 43% chronic absenteeism rate.

Key metrics reveal a deep divide: Howard County schools average roughly 58% English proficiency, while Prince George's County schools average about 34%. Chronic absenteeism is a major issue in Prince George's County, averaging 31.6% compared to 16.1% in Howard County. The data also shows that higher per-student spending does not guarantee better outcomes, as the school with the highest spending ($28,654) has the lowest math scores, while the school with the lowest spending ($16,153) has the highest. The transition to middle school is a vulnerable time, with performance drops evident across all districts, and math proficiency remains a universal challenge, though the gap is widest between the districts.