Highland Elementary

Highland Elementary is an elementary campus of middle-of-the-pack scale in Silver Spring, Maryland, overseen by Montgomery County Public Schools, serveing 509 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Across the 208 schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (159,181 students total), Highland Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Demographically, Highland Elementary reports that 82% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school shows 6% White, 6% Asian, 5% Black. By comparison, Montgomery County as a whole is about 21% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Highland Elementary has 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.3:1. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 60% of students at Highland Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is higher than Montgomery County's rate of about 40%.

After controlling for student poverty, Highland Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 38.8%, the actual is 46.5%, a residual of +7.8 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Montgomery County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $132,450 per year, about 61% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Montgomery County's 211 public schools (combined enrollment of about 159,181 students), Highland Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Wheaton High, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Highland Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 32.9%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Five-year trend. Highland Elementary's enrollment has shrank 13% since 2018, when it stood at 583 (now 509). The Hispanic share of enrollment edged up from 73% to 82% over that span.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Highland Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.