Summary:
Zip code 20678 in Prince Frederick, MD, is home to two elementary schools, Barstow Elementary and Calvert Elementary, both part of the highly-rated Calvert County Public Schools district, which holds a 5-star rating and ranks in the 88th percentile among Maryland districts.
Calvert Elementary stands out as the higher-performing school in the area. It ranks 175th out of 864 Maryland elementary schools (80th percentile, 4 stars), significantly ahead of Barstow Elementary, which ranks 267th (69th percentile, 3 stars). Calvert also achieves higher proficiency rates in both Math (53.7% vs. 46.2%) and English Language Arts (68.7% vs. 56.8%) across all grades. Notably, Calvert spends $20,532 per student—$4,607 more than Barstow—and has a slightly lower student-teacher ratio (14.7:1 vs. 15.7:1), which may contribute to its academic edge. However, both schools face a shared challenge with chronic absenteeism, with Calvert at 17.2% and Barstow at 15.8%, close to the district average of 17.3%.
A key takeaway is the significant drop in Math proficiency as students advance through grades at both schools. For instance, at Barstow Elementary, 3rd-grade Math proficiency is 64.3%, but it falls to 35.2% by 5th grade—a nearly 50% decline. Calvert Elementary shows a similar but less severe pattern, dropping from 71.6% to 45.4%. Additionally, both schools underperform the district average in 5th-grade Science proficiency (44.4%), with Barstow at 35.2% and Calvert at 38.1%, though they still exceed the state average of 32.4%. These trends suggest that while Calvert Elementary offers stronger overall academics, both schools could benefit from targeted interventions in upper-grade math and science instruction.
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