Summary:
Zip code 20854 in Potomac, Maryland, is home to two exceptional public middle schools, Cabin John Middle School and Herbert Hoover Middle School, both serving grades 6-8 within the highly-rated Montgomery County Public Schools district.
Both schools are academic powerhouses, consistently ranking in the top 3% of all middle schools in Maryland, but they have distinct strengths. Cabin John Middle School stands out for its consistent top-tier state ranking, achieving 8th place in the state for the 2025-2026 school year, and is a math powerhouse with notably higher Geometry proficiency (88.1% vs. 73.9%). In contrast, Herbert Hoover Middle School excels in English Language Arts (ELA) with an 89% proficiency rate and leads in 8th-grade Science (70.8%) and Social Studies scores. Both schools share a low chronic absenteeism rate of around 10%, a very low free/reduced lunch rate of about 12%, and identical student-teacher ratios of 16.5:1, reflecting a stable and high-performing educational environment.
A key finding for parents is the dramatic drop in 8th-grade math proficiency at both schools—from over 57% in 6th grade to under 14% in 8th grade. This is not a sign of declining performance but rather because top math students take advanced courses like Algebra I and Geometry, which are tested separately, leaving the standard 8th-grade math test to be taken by the remaining students. This nuance is critical for understanding the data. Overall, families in this zip code have access to two elite schools with different academic profiles, making the choice largely dependent on a child's specific strengths and interests.
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