Edward M. Felegy Elementary School

Edward M. Felegy Elementary School in Hyattsville, MD, serves 641 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade as part of the Prince George's County Public Schools district, where over 93% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

The most critical challenge at Felegy is a severe chronic absenteeism rate of 42.4%, meaning more than 2 in 5 students miss too much school to benefit from instruction. This rate is significantly higher than nearby schools like Cesar Chavez Elementary (18.9%) and Hyattsville Elementary (not available), and it has remained stubbornly high for five years. Despite spending $23,666 per student—the second-highest among nearby schools—Felegy's academic results are low, with only 13.9% of students proficient in math and 30.8% in English Language Arts (ELA). This contrasts sharply with Cesar Chavez Elementary, which spends $4,824 less per student but achieves 62.3% ELA proficiency. The school does have a positive differentiator: a low student-to-teacher ratio of 10.3:1, the best among its peers, suggesting smaller class sizes. However, this advantage is not translating into higher performance, likely because absenteeism undermines even the best resources.

One interesting bright spot is Felegy's 4th-grade ELA proficiency rate of 38.5%, which actually exceeds the district average of 34.3%. This suggests a specific instructional strategy or effective teacher that could be replicated in other grades. Overall, the school's state ranking has stagnated between the 18th and 22nd percentile for five years, indicating that without addressing the root causes of absenteeism—such as community stability and family engagement—academic progress will remain elusive. For parents, the key takeaway is that Felegy invests heavily in resources, but the overwhelming absenteeism crisis is the primary barrier to student success.