Summary:
Zip code 22448 contains exactly one public school: Potomac Elementary, a K-5 school in Dahlgren, Virginia, serving 566 students as part of King George County Public Schools. Because it is the only school in this zip code, Potomac Elementary represents the entire local educational landscape, and its results directly shape the experience for all elementary families in the area.
Potomac Elementary has clear areas of strength. In the most recent 2025–2026 school year, 4th grade Mathematics proficiency reached 81.31%, well above the district's 70.19% and the state's 73.29%. 4th grade VA Studies also came in strong at 73.83%, beating both district and state averages, and 4th grade Reading exceeded the district average. The concern is 5th grade. Science proficiency plunged from 64.29% in 2024–2025 to 44.09% in 2025–2026, a 20-point drop far below the state average of 68.75%. 5th grade Reading also fell sharply from 78.13% to 61.29%, dropping below district and state levels. As a result, the school's overall state ranking slipped from the 56th percentile (3 stars) in 2024–2025 to the 40th percentile (2 stars) in 2025–2026.
Other key metrics show a moderate-poverty school: about 37.28% of students receive free or reduced lunch, and chronic absenteeism is 15.7%—better than the district's 21.1% but slightly above the state's 14.8%. The student-teacher ratio is 15.2:1, and per-student spending is $8,638. For parents, the bottom line is that Potomac Elementary is a mixed-performing school. It excels in 4th grade and in math across multiple grades, but the sharp 5th grade declines in science and reading are the main reason the school lost ground. If those 5th grade scores recover, the school could easily return to its previous 3-star level.
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