Compared to pre-pandemic years, fewer Greenbelt students are “proficient” in math and English language arts (ELA) on state tests, according to data from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE). The 2025 school report cards, which were released in early November, are based on the results of state tests over the 2024-25 school year. With the exception of Greenbelt Middle School, Greenbelt schools earned academic achievement scores that have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The 2018-19 school year is as far back as the online historical data on the MSDE report card goes. It also serves as a pre-pandemic benchmark for school performance. Maryland’s state tests use four performance levels to determine if a student has reached proficiency in math or ELA) content. The levels are: one (beginning learner), two (developing learner), three (proficient learner) and four (distinguished learner). A student must score a level three or four to be considered proficient.
The percentage of students achieving proficiency or higher in math and ELA on state tests and the average performance level of students on state tests determine a school’s academic achievement score on the school report cards. Elementary or middle schools can earn a total of 20 points, with each of the four categories worth five points, across the categories of “percent proficient mathematics,” “percent proficient [ELA],” “average performance level mathematics,” and “average performance level [ELA].” A high school is scored out of 30, with each category being worth 7.5 points.
Pandemic Context
There are no report cards for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years because the students were not physically in school during those Covid years, so the standardized tests could not be given. Comparing the data across recent years shows that of all Greenbelt schools, only Greenbelt Middle School (GMS) has achievement scores that have returned to the pre-pandemic levels indicated by the 2018-19 school year. For all schools except Greenbelt Middle, of the five years recorded, the 2018-19 achievement scores are their highest. Some schools, including Greenbelt Middle and Dora Kennedy French Immersion’s middle school grades show a drop for the first post-pandemic measure of achievement score, followed by a continual improvement each subsequent year. Others show more fluctuation post-pandemic. For Magnolia Elementary and Eleanor Roosevelt High School their lowest achievement scores are not immediately following the pandemic but are the most recent 2024-25 figures.
Greenbelt Elementary School (GES)
Greenbelt Elementary’s 2024-25 academic achievement score was 8.7. The 2024-25 school year’s most notable statistic was that only 22.4 percent of GES students met or exceeded the percentage needed for proficiency in mathematics.
By comparison, in the 2018-19 school year, 33 percent of students met or exceeded the proficiency level for math and 48.7 percent met or exceeded the level for ELA. The change in scores reflects an approximate 14.7 percent decrease from the 2018-19 score, which was 10.2.
Springhill Lake Elementary (SHLES)
During the 2024-25 school year, Springhill Lake scored 5.8 total points with 9.7 percent of its students meeting proficiency in mathematics and 17.3 percent meeting proficiency in ELA.
In 2019, its score was 6.7 total points compared to 5.8 points in 2024-25, a decrease of 13.4 percent. Only 16.6 percent of students scored proficient or above in math and 22.7 percent scored proficient or above in ELA.
The school’s academic achievement scores held fairly steady for the last three years (5.8 in 2022-23, 5.9 in 2023-24, and 5.8 in 2024-25), and though it hasn’t returned to its pre-pandemic level, it is above the 2021-22 score immediately following those pandemic years.
Magnolia Elementary
Magnolia Elementary achievement scores have wavered since the pandemic but overall have been lower. The school earned an overall 5.9 points for the 2024-25 school year, compared to 7.8 points in 2018-19. The achievement scores following the pandemic were 6.8 in 2021-22, 7.6 in 2022-23, 6.3 in 2023-24 and 5.9 in 2024-25. Only 6.4 percent of its students met proficiency for mathematics in the most recent report.
The difference in points from 2018-19 to the 2024-25 school year reflects a 24.4 percent decrease in proficiency. In 2018-19, 20.8 percent of students met or exceeded math proficiency, and 30.3 percent of students met or exceeded ELA proficiency. The most recent overall achievement score for Magnolia Elementary was the worst of the years in data represented on the MSDE site.
Dora Kennedy French Immersion (DKFI)
DKFI’s 2024-25 achievement score was 12.2 for the elementary grades, and 13.3 for the middle school grades. In the middle school grades, 85.9 percent of students were deemed proficient in ELA and 45.1 percent in mathematics. In the elementary grades, 67.4 percent of students were proficient in ELA and 47.4 percent in math.
The percent change between the most recent academic year and 2018-19 represents an overall 8.9 percent decrease in the school score for the elementary grades since the 2018-19 school year (when it scored 13.4), and a 5.7 percent decrease for the middle school grades (which scored 14.1).
DKFI’s middle school grades have been continually improving since their pandemic drop in performance level. The trajectory for the elementary grades is not as clear but their most recent data, like the middle school’s, is the best since before the pandemic.
Greenbelt Middle School (GMS)
Greenbelt Middle School was the only school to return to an achievement score equal to its pre-pandemic score, and in fact surpassed it in the most recent year. GMS earned 9.0 points during the 2024-25 school year; 23.2 percent of students met the proficiency threshold for mathematics and 47.5 percent met the threshold for ELA.
In 2018-19, GMS earned 8.5 points; 23.9 percent of students met or exceeded math proficiency, and 37.1 percent of students met or exceeded ELA proficiency. The point difference between these two school years reflects a 5.9 percent increase in students’ proficiencies.
Eleanor Roosevelt High School
Eleanor Roosevelt High School earned 17.9 out of 30 possible points for the 2024-25 school year. For mathematics, 44.8 percent of its students met or exceeded the threshold to be considered proficient and 73.9 percent were proficient in ELA.
In 2019, the high school earned 20.3 points. At that time, 60.3 percent of its students met or exceeded proficiency in math, and 70.9 percent met or exceeded proficiency in ELA. The differences between scores from the 2018-19 school year and the 2024-25 school year represent a 11.8 percent decrease in scores.
The most recent year represents the worst achievement score for the school of any years listed online by MSDE.
Ashna Balroop is a University of Maryland student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism writing for the Greenbelt News Review.
Eleanor Roosevelt High School scores out of a possible total of 30 for the years 2018 to 2025 (excluding 2020-21).
