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What tradition at South Lake Elementary should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
746
Elementary
DISTRICT 514 · STATE 481
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 240048000924
South Lake Elementary
18201 Contour Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20877 · (240) 740-7330 · Montgomery County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL746 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.
- FBeats 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
12.1:1
62 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.9:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
66%
493 students
DISTRICT 40% · 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 | 47 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 111 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 127 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 106 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 128 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 105 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 122 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (111) is 9% smaller than its 5th grade class (122).
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 75% · 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
25.5%
MD avg 50.6% . -2.0pp since 2023
Math
21.1%
MD avg 34.8% . -3.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the MCAP, Maryland's statewide test, about 26 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Maryland schools, those numbers are about 51 and 35. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
MCAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.5% | 21.1% |
| 2023-24 | 27.5% | 25.0% |
% 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
24.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.1%
based on MD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 35% 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 South Lake Elementary
South Lake Elementary's state test result (24.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Lake Elementary this school | 746 | 66.1% | 24.8% |
| Watkins Mill Elementary Montgomery Village | 734 | 60.1% | 25.8% |
| Gaithersburg Elementary Gaithersburg | 603 | 67.5% | 20.9% |
| Weller Road Elementary Silver Spring | 691 | 65.3% | 34.9% |
| Harmony Hills Elementary Silver Spring | 655 | 65.0% | 28.3% |
| Graceland Park/O'Donnell Heights Elementary/Middle Baltimore | 831 | 62.3% | 24.4% |
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 South Lake Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Maryland | In Montgomery County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 24.8% | #722 of 853 | #128 of 131 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.1% | #730 of 853 ▼ 113 | #130 of 131 ▼ 9 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.5% | #771 of 853 ▼ 76 | #127 of 131 ▼ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 746 | #65 of 898 | #7 of 139 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #183 of 857 | #55 of 136 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 41.0% | #615 of 857 | #127 of 136 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.1% | #324 of 885 | #11 of 137 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.1% | #320 of 551 | #54 of 97 |
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
746
-44 (-6%) vs 2020
+31% since 1990-91, when it was 569
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 10.5:1
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 | 746 | 61.8 | 12.1:1 | 66% (493) |
| 2023-24 | 780 | 69.9 | 11.2:1 | 68% (529) |
| 2022-23 | 797 | 64.9 | 12.3:1 | 89% (706) |
| 2020-21 | 790 | 75 | 10.5:1 | 88% (696) |
| 2017-18 | 839 | 66.2 | 12.7:1 | 84% (701) |
| 2015-16 | 816 | 62 | 13.2:1 | 86% (699) |
| 2010-11 | 659 | 49 | 13.4:1 | 75% (493) |
| 2000-01 | 595 | 39 | 15.3:1 | 43% (253) |
| 1990-91 | 569 | 30 | 19.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Lake Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (839 to 746); teachers down 7% (66.2 to 61.8).
About South Lake Elementary
South Lake Elementary is a large elementary school for students in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It has an enrollment of 746 students in pre-K through 5. On average, elementary schools in Maryland enroll around 481, and this school is 55% larger than that mark.
South Lake Elementary is part of a district of 208 schools: Montgomery County Public Schools, with 159,181 students.
More than half of enrollment at South Lake Elementary is Hispanic: 75%. Other groups include 17% Black, 4% Asian, and 2% multiracial. The county population is about 21% Hispanic. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, South Lake Elementary scores 41%.
There are 61.8 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 12.1:1. The gap from the 13.8:1 average for elementary schools in Maryland is 1.8 students per teacher. On the income side, 66% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Montgomery County is 40%.
On the allk12 Grade, South Lake Elementary lands at D, ahead of 7% of Maryland public elementary schools.
After adjusting for student poverty, South Lake Elementary lands between the top and bottom 10% of Maryland schools. Its average proficiency rate across its state test results is 24.8%; the prediction is 35.1%.
In the wider Montgomery County area, median household income comes to about $132,450, 61% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 5% of people live in poverty. Montgomery County's 211 public schools enroll about 159,181 students and include South Lake Elementary.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Forest Oak Middle, is about 0.6 miles. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 28.0%; South Lake Elementary's is 24.8%, ranking 6th of 9.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Suburb: Large.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment fell from 790 to 746, a 6% drop. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 10.5:1 to 12.1:1.
The South Lake Elementary discussion page is a place for homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Montgomery County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,065,949
Census ACS
Median income
$132,450
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
61%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
211
159,181 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Montgomery County Public Schools
- Montgomery Blair HighHigh · 3,266 students
- Walter Johnson HighHigh · 3,016 students
- Wheaton HighHigh · 2,794 students
- Gaithersburg HighHigh · 2,441 students
- Seneca Valley HighHigh · 2,409 students
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase HighHigh · 2,377 students
Other schools in Gaithersburg
- Gaithersburg HighHigh · 2,441 students
- Quince Orchard HighHigh · 2,100 students
- Watkins Mill HighHigh · 1,577 students
- Lakelands Park MiddleMiddle · 993 students
- Gaithersburg MiddleMiddle · 869 students
- Forest Oak MiddleMiddle · 828 students
Other South Lake Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named South Lake Elementary. South Lake Elementary is the largest of the 4.
- South Lake Elementary SchoolOklahoma City, OK · 666 students
- SOUTH LAKE ELEMENTARYTITUSVILLE, FL · 469 students
- South Lake ElementaryLexington, SC · 466 students
Nearby schools
- Forest Oak Middle0.6 mi · 828
- Gaithersburg Elementary0.9 mi · 603
- Gaithersburg Middle0.9 mi · 869
- Strawberry Knoll Elementary1.0 mi · 448
- Harriet R. Tubman Elementary1.0 mi · 571
- Watkins Mill Elementary1.1 mi · 734
Frequently asked questions
About South Lake ElementaryHow large is South Lake Elementary?
South Lake Elementary enrolls approximately 746 students in grades PK-05.
Is South Lake Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
South Lake Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does South Lake Elementary have?
South Lake Elementary employs 62 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.1:1.
How diverse is South Lake Elementary?
South Lake Elementary reports a student body of 1% White, 75% Hispanic, 17% Black, 4% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees South Lake Elementary?
South Lake Elementary is overseen by Montgomery County Public Schools in Montgomery County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.