Best Public Schools in Zip Code 21740

The 14 schools in zip code 21740 (Hagerstown, MD) are part of the Washington County Public Schools district and serve a diverse range of students from Pre-K through 12th grade, including elementary, middle, high, and alternative schools.

The standout school in this area is Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, a magnet high school ranked in the 92nd percentile with exceptional English proficiency rates and the lowest chronic absenteeism. In contrast, Bester Elementary faces significant challenges with the highest poverty rate and critically low test scores. Emma K. Doub Elementary is a top-performing elementary school that achieves strong results despite serving a high-poverty population, while Fountain Rock Elementary has shown remarkable improvement, jumping to the 75th percentile. A notable anomaly is E. Russell Hicks Middle, where 85.7% of students taking Algebra I are proficient—far exceeding district and state averages—though overall math scores remain average.

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue, with rates ranging from 14.3% at Barbara Ingram to over 49% at South Hagerstown High and 61.2% at Marshall Street School. Spending per student varies dramatically, from $14,213 at Fountain Rock to $22,906 at Bester, yet higher spending does not guarantee better outcomes. The data shows that school leadership and community engagement can make a profound difference, as seen in the contrast between Emma K. Doub and Bester Elementary, both serving high-poverty populations but achieving vastly different results.