Kettering Elementary

Kettering Elementary is a public school in Upper Marlboro, MD, serving 415 students in grades PK-5 as part of Prince George's County Public Schools, a district ranked near the bottom in Maryland.

Kettering Elementary faces significant challenges, most notably an extremely high chronic absenteeism rate of 42.8%—the highest among all nearby schools and far above the district average of 30.2%. For context, Thomas G. Pullen, a higher-performing nearby school, has an absenteeism rate of just 17.8%. This absenteeism issue is a major barrier to academic success, and math proficiency at Kettering is critically low at 9.9%, the lowest among its peers. In contrast, English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency is 35.7%, closer to the district average of 38.9%, suggesting the school's literacy instruction may be more effective than its math curriculum. However, ELA performance has dropped sharply from 45.5% in 2022-2023, and a troubling trend shows 5th graders scoring much lower than 3rd graders in both subjects, indicating the school may struggle to build on early learning gains.

Despite these difficulties, Kettering shows a relative strength in serving its low socio-economic status students, who ranked in the 60th percentile statewide in 2020-2021. The school also spends $18,331 per student, more than several higher-performing nearby schools like Perrywood Elementary ($16,780) and Kingsford Elementary ($18,316), indicating that funding alone is not the primary driver of success. For parents considering this school, the key takeaway is that addressing chronic absenteeism will be essential for any academic improvement, and while the school has some pockets of strength, overall performance remains low compared to nearby options like Robert Frost Elementary and Arrowhead Elementary.