Summary:
In zip code 20876, there is one middle school, Neelsville Middle, serving grades 6 through 8 in Germantown, Maryland, as part of the Montgomery County Public Schools district.
Neelsville Middle presents a complex picture for parents. The school has a high per-student spending of $20,009, yet its overall state ranking is in the 43rd percentile, indicating that significant financial resources are not translating into top-tier academic results. The most critical issue is a severe "math cliff": while 6th grade math proficiency is 19.4%, it drops to 5.4% in 7th grade and reaches 0% in 8th grade. This is far below the state average of 27.1% for all grades. In contrast, English Language Arts proficiency is much stronger at 46.2%, close to the state average of 51.7%. The school also faces a high chronic absenteeism rate of 25.0%, which is above the district average of 22.6% and likely contributes to the academic challenges.
Despite the overall low math scores, a small group of students taking advanced courses like Algebra I and Geometry perform closer to state averages, suggesting a wide gap between the advanced and standard tracks. With 55.06% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a predominantly economically disadvantaged population. For parents, the key takeaway is that Neelsville Middle offers a strong ELA program but has a systemic math problem that worsens each year, and the high spending has not yet solved this core issue.
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