Summary:
In zip code 20903, there is one middle school, Francis Scott Key Middle, serving grades 6 through 8 in Silver Spring, Maryland, as part of the Montgomery County Public Schools district.
Francis Scott Key Middle serves 950 students and has a high per-student spending of $20,075, yet its academic proficiency rates are significantly below district and state averages. The school's state ranking has been consistently low, hovering in the bottom third of Maryland middle schools over the past three years, though its star rating recently improved from 1 to 2 stars. A critical area of concern is mathematics, where proficiency rates decline sharply by grade level: 13.5% in 6th grade, 5.2% in 7th grade, and just 1.3% in 8th grade. English Language Arts proficiency is a relative strength at 38.5%, but still lags behind the state average of 51.7%. Science proficiency in 8th grade is 14.2%, compared to the state's 30.9%.
Despite these academic challenges, there are some positive indicators. The chronic absenteeism rate of 16.1% is notably lower than the district average of 22.6%, suggesting good attendance. The student-teacher ratio of 13.9:1 is favorable, indicating smaller class sizes. Additionally, a subset of students demonstrates high achievement in advanced coursework, with Geometry end-of-course exam proficiency (28.1%) slightly above the state average (27.5%). The school serves a predominantly low-income community, with 63.26% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch, which is an important context for understanding its performance. Overall, Francis Scott Key Middle faces significant academic hurdles, particularly in mathematics, but shows potential for improvement through its strong attendance and pockets of high achievement.
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