Summary:
Zip code 20680 is home to a single school, Ridge Elementary, a public school serving grades Pre-K through 5th with 209 students in the St. Mary's County Public Schools district, an area where 54.55% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Ridge Elementary is a school on the rise, having improved its state ranking from the 44th percentile (2 stars) in 2024-2025 to the 59th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-2026. The school demonstrates clear strengths in English Language Arts (51.8% proficient, matching the state average) and exceptional performance in 5th-grade Science, where 44.8% of students are proficient—outpacing both the district (38.1%) and the state (32.4%). However, mathematics is a significant weakness, with overall proficiency at 31.3% (below the district's 36.0%), and 4th-grade math is a critical red flag at just 13.6% proficiency compared to the district's 42.8%. The school benefits from a low student-teacher ratio of 13.5:1 and high per-student spending of $21,930, which supports a favorable learning environment but has not yet translated into top-tier math scores.
A notable concern is the school's chronic absenteeism rate of 31.2%, which is nearly 4 percentage points higher than the district average. This creates a paradox given the school's recent academic improvements, suggesting that attending students may be performing exceptionally well or that targeted interventions are beginning to work. Despite challenges in math and attendance, the overall trajectory is positive, and Ridge Elementary is a school to watch for continued improvement, particularly if it can strategically allocate its high funding to bolster math instruction and address absenteeism.
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