Summary:
The five public schools in zip code 20659 (Mechanicsville, MD) are part of the St. Mary's County Public Schools district and serve students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, with no high school located in the area.
White Marsh Elementary is the standout school in the zip code, ranking in the top 15% of Maryland elementary schools and achieving the highest math (62.1%) and ELA (69.4%) proficiency rates. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (18.8%) and the lowest student-teacher ratio (14.3:1), supported by the highest per-student spending ($20,517). Oakville Elementary is a strong performer in math and science, with its 4th graders achieving 64.9% math proficiency and 5th graders scoring 55.6% in science—nearly double the state average. In contrast, Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary is the lowest-performing elementary school, ranking below the 50th percentile with the lowest ELA proficiency (50%) and second-lowest math proficiency (37.1%). Mechanicsville Elementary falls in the middle of the pack, with math proficiency at 43.5% and ELA at 53.8%.
A significant challenge emerges at Margaret Brent Middle, the only middle school, where academic performance drops sharply. Its overall math proficiency is just 31.7%, and 8th-grade math proficiency plummets to only 13.6%. The school also struggles with a chronic absenteeism rate of 36.1%, the highest in the zip code. However, Margaret Brent excels in advanced math, with Algebra I proficiency rates roughly double the district and state averages. This data reveals a clear feeder pattern where students attend one of the four elementary schools before moving to Margaret Brent, and then must leave the zip code for high school, making the middle school's performance a critical indicator of how well elementary schools prepare students for the next stage.
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