Harriet R. Tubman Elementary

Harriet R. Tubman Elementary is a public school in Gaithersburg, MD, serving 571 students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Montgomery County Public Schools district, a high-performing system ranked 8th in Maryland.

While the district overall is strong, Tubman Elementary has historically ranked in the bottom third of Maryland elementary schools, though it recently improved from a 1-star to a 2-star rating. Academic performance is a key concern: only 23.9% of students were proficient in math and 35.5% in English Language Arts in the 2025-2026 school year. This is significantly lower than nearby Mill Creek Towne Elementary (51.4% math, 55.4% ELA) and Strawberry Knoll Elementary (33.9% math, 50% ELA). However, Tubman shows a modest upward trend in its state percentile rank, from the 23rd percentile to the 33rd percentile, suggesting recent efforts may be starting to work. The school also spends a high amount per student ($21,951), yet this investment has not yet translated into academic results comparable to its neighbors.

A notable pattern is that 3rd graders at Tubman consistently outperform 4th and 5th graders, with 30.2% proficient in math versus just 16.9% of 5th graders, indicating the school may effectively support early learning but struggles to sustain growth in later grades. Science proficiency is also a weak point, with only 18% of 5th graders proficient compared to 40.1% district-wide. Chronic absenteeism, while improved from 35.7% to 24.1%, remains above the district average of 22.6% and higher than at Mill Creek Towne (22.1%). Tubman sits in a cluster of lower-performing schools with high poverty rates, but its recent positive trend offers a glimmer of hope for families seeking improvement.