Piney Branch Elementary

Piney Branch Elementary is a primary school of average-sized scale in Takoma Park, Maryland, operated by Montgomery County Public Schools, enrolling 575 students in grades 3 through 5.

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

On the student-mix side, Piney Branch Elementary records that the largest single group is White at 44%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder is composed of 27% Black, 18% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 2% Asian. Compared to Montgomery County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.8:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.8:1, putting Piney Branch Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 35% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Piney Branch Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 53.6%, the actual is 66.3%, a residual of +12.6 points.

In the area at large, census data for Montgomery County shows median household income runs about $132,450, about 61% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Across Montgomery County's 211 public schools (combined enrollment of about 159,181 students), Piney Branch Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Takoma Park Elementary, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Piney Branch Elementary at 1st of 4; the average score across the group is 44.0%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Piney Branch Elementary's enrollment has edged down 13% since 2018, when it stood at 660 (now 575). Black enrollment moved from 36% to 27% across the same window.

Inside the community feed, members of the Piney Branch Elementary community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.