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What's the best and worst thing about the food at Bester Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
490
Elementary
DISTRICT 433 · STATE 481
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WASHINGTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240066001253
Bester Elementary
385 Mill St, Hagerstown, MD 21740 · (301) 766-8001 · Washington County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL490 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Maryland public elementary schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Maryland public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
415 students
DISTRICT 56% · STATE 54%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 42 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 71 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 68 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 70 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 90 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (75) is 17% smaller than its 5th grade class (90).
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · STATE 73% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
MCAP 2024-25 . % Proficient (Levels 3-4)English Language Arts
25.3%
MD avg 50.6% . +3.6pp since 2023
Math
12.8%
MD avg 34.8% . -3.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.3% | 12.8% |
| 2023-24 | 21.7% | 16.0% |
% Proficient (Levels 3-4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: MCAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
18.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.1%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 19% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 24% typical for Maryland schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Maryland's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Bester Elementary
Bester Elementary's state test result (18.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bester Elementary this school | 490 | 84.7% | 18.9% |
| Middlesex Elementary Baltimore | 448 | 80.4% | 25.0% |
| Sussex Elementary Baltimore | 475 | 78.9% | 27.5% |
| Hilltop Elementary Glen Burnie | 521 | 81.4% | 27.1% |
| Halls Cross Roads Elementary Aberdeen | 425 | 85.9% | 37.7% |
| Sandy Plains Elementary Baltimore | 580 | 80.0% | 24.6% |
Matched among Maryland elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Bester Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Washington County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 18.9% | #799 of 853 | #24 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 12.8% | #823 of 853 ▼ 51 | #24 of 24 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.3% | #773 of 853 ▼ 6 | #24 of 24 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 490 | #402 of 898 | #10 of 25 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.3:1 | #107 of 857 | #1 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.3% | #53 of 857 | #4 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.7% | #143 of 885 | #1 of 25 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.7% | #142 of 551 | #2 of 11 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
490
-1 (0%) vs 2020
-17% since 1990-91, when it was 587
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
was 12.0:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 490 | 43.2 | 11.3:1 | 85% (415) |
| 2023-24 | 461 | 42.2 | 10.9:1 | 89% (410) |
| 2022-23 | 494 | 44 | 11.2:1 | 88% (437) |
| 2020-21 | 491 | 41 | 12.0:1 | 80% (393) |
| 2017-18 | 618 | 39 | 15.8:1 | 100% (618) |
| 2015-16 | 590 | 38 | 15.5:1 | 99% (587) |
| 2010-11 | 543 | 44 | 12.3:1 | 85% (464) |
| 2000-01 | 504 | 36 | 14.0:1 | 56% (280) |
| 1990-91 | 587 | 32 | 18.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bester Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (618 to 490); teachers up 11% (39 to 43.2).
About Bester Elementary
The public elementary school Bester Elementary is located in Hagerstown, Maryland. Grades offered run from pre-K through 5, with 490 students enrolled.
Bester Elementary is one school in a 43-school district, Washington County Public Schools, which enrolls 23,320 students.
Enrollment at Bester Elementary is mixed, with Black students the largest group at 30%. Other reported shares: 29% White, 22% Hispanic, and 19% multiracial. That compares with about 12% Black among all Washington County residents. Bester Elementary has a diversity index of 74%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Bester Elementary counts 43.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 11.3 students for each one. Among elementary schools in Maryland, the typical ratio is 13.8:1. About 85% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Washington County is 58%.
Bester Elementary is graded D by allk12, scoring above 7% of Maryland public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 24.1% at Bester Elementary; the school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 18.9%.
In the county around the school, Washington County, median household income is about $77,747, about 24% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 9%. A total of 44 public schools operate in Washington County, serving about 23,320 students.
The shortest distance from Bester Elementary to another public school is about 0.6 miles, to Barbara Ingram School for the Arts. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. On state test proficiency, Bester Elementary ranks 7th in a group of 7 nearby schools.
Bester Elementary falls in the City: Small locale category, used for schools inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment in 2024-25 was 490, close to the 491 recorded in 2020-21.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Bester Elementary covering things like school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Washington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
155,709
Census ACS
Median income
$77,747
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
44
23,320 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Washington County Public Schools
- South Hagerstown HighHigh · 1,690 students
- North Hagerstown HighHigh · 1,583 students
- Williamsport HighHigh · 1,061 students
- Western Heights MiddleMiddle · 883 students
- E. Russell Hicks MiddleMiddle · 841 students
- Northern MiddleMiddle · 841 students
Other schools in Hagerstown
- South Hagerstown HighHigh · 1,690 students
- North Hagerstown HighHigh · 1,583 students
- Western Heights MiddleMiddle · 883 students
- E. Russell Hicks MiddleMiddle · 841 students
- Northern MiddleMiddle · 841 students
- Pangborn ElementaryElementary · 749 students
Nearby schools
- Barbara Ingram School for the Arts0.6 mi · 347
- Pangborn Elementary1.1 mi · 749
- South Hagerstown High1.1 mi · 1,690
- Emma K. Doub Elementary1.3 mi · 389
- E. Russell Hicks Middle1.4 mi · 841
- Boyd J. Michael III Technical High School1.5 mi · 548
Frequently asked questions
About Bester ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Bester Elementary?
Bester Elementary enrolls approximately 490 students in grades PK-05.
Is Bester Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Bester Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Bester Elementary have?
Bester Elementary employs 43 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Bester Elementary?
Student demographics at Bester Elementary are roughly 29% White, 22% Hispanic, 30% Black, 0% Asian, 19% Two or more.
Is Bester Elementary public or private?
Bester Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Washington County Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.