Summary:
Zip code 20903 in Silver Spring, Maryland, is home to three elementary schools within the highly-rated Montgomery County Public Schools district, which together serve students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade in a unique feeder system.
The most notable structural feature of this area is that New Hampshire Estates Elementary and Roscoe R Nix Elementary only serve grades PK-2, while Cresthaven Elementary serves grades 3-5. This means standardized test scores are only available for Cresthaven, where proficiency rates in math (24.2%) and English Language Arts (27.1%) fall below both district and state averages. All three schools serve a high-poverty population, with Free and Reduced Lunch rates ranging from 62.66% to 69.23%. A key difference emerges in attendance: New Hampshire Estates has a standout low chronic absenteeism rate of 15.7%, significantly better than the district average of 22.6%, while Roscoe R Nix struggles with the highest rate in the zip code at 27.3%. This suggests that school-level culture and engagement strategies can have a powerful impact independent of socioeconomic challenges.
Spending per student is high across the board, averaging $25,528, with Cresthaven spending notably less ($23,811) than the two PK-2 schools. Despite this high investment, Cresthaven's academic results remain below state averages, and a specific weakness is evident in 5th-grade science, where only 18.1% of students are proficient. For parents, the feeder system means that the true academic impact of the early childhood programs at New Hampshire Estates and Roscoe R Nix will only become measurable when those students reach 3rd grade at Cresthaven, making attendance rates a critical early indicator of school quality in this area.
Thank you for your feedback!