Best MD Elementary, Middle Schools Announced: How Does Yours Rank?

MARYLAND — U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday announced its rankings of the best elementary and middle schools in each state. Montgomery County dominated Maryland's K-8 list with two elementary and four middle schools in the top five.

Here are the best elementary schools in Maryland:

These are the best middle schools in the state:

Here is the best elementary school in each district. Kent County did not have any institutions on the list.

These are the best middle schools in each jurisdiction. Caroline, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent and Talbot counties did not have any ranked facilities.

For the inaugural list, U.S. News published rankings and data on more than 80,000 public elementary and middle schools across the country.

To determine the rankings, the outlet used data from the U.S. Department of Education to analyze two areas at each school:

• Math and reading proficiency — or how well students perform on state assessments
• Math and reading performance — or how well they perform compared with expectations

The state assessment data used in the rankings are from the 2018-19 school year and, therefore, predate any effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on test-taking.

Nationally, California has 5,534 ranked elementary schools — the most of any state — followed by Texas at 4,446; New York at 2,211; Florida at 2,128; and Illinois at 2,038 schools.

California also has the most ranked middle schools with 2,319, followed by Texas at 1,942; Illinois at 1,243; New York at 1,219; and Florida at 997.

See the complete list of 2021’s Best K-8 Schools.

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