Arcola Elementary

Arcola Elementary is a primary school of roomy scale in Silver Spring, Maryland, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools, hosting 747 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 55% larger than the state mean of about 481.

Montgomery County Public Schools comprises 208 schools with combined enrollment of 159,181 students; Arcola Elementary is among them.

In terms of who attends, Arcola Elementary lists that Hispanic students make up the majority at 66%; the rest reads as 23% Black, 5% White, 4% Asian. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 21%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 58 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.9:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.8:1 average. About 57% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Montgomery County's rate of about 40%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Arcola Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 40.2%, the actual is 28.6%, a residual of -11.7 points.

In the surrounding community, Montgomery County reports that the typical household earns roughly $132,450 per year, 61% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. In all, Montgomery County runs 211 public schools (combined enrollment of about 159,181 students), of which Arcola Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Odessa Shannon Middle, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Arcola Elementary ranks 7th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 40.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Arcola Elementary has grew 9%, going from 686 students in 2018 to 747 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 19% to 23% across the same window. Class-load math has loosened: from 11.8:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Arcola Elementary typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.