3,500+ Student Decrease in MCPS Elementary School Enrollment from 2018 to 2022: A Comprehensive Study

Background and Source Data

Elementary school enrollment in MCPS was analyzed for the years 2018 to 2022.

Official enrollment numbers are found in the “Official Reports of Enrollment” on the MCPS Office of Shared Accountability web page.

Results and Conclusions

The number of students per year is shown. The year indicates enrollment on Sept 30 of that year, i.e., 2022 is for the 2022-2023 school year.  Color coding indicates a cohort class throughout elementary school, e.g., the fifth-grade class of 2022-2023 is colored red, and it had 11,581 first graders in fall 2018 and 11,692 fifth graders in fall of 2022.

The number of students per a particular grade each year has varied. 2018 and 2022 numbers were compared. All grade levels had a decrease in the number of students. Grade 1 had the smallest decrease (167 students), while Grade 5 had the largest decrease (986 students).

Total students in 2018 vs 2022

20182022Change in Student Number
Grade K11,31610,602-714
Grade 111,58111,414-167
Grade 211,78711,227-560
Grade 312,02011,520-500
Grade 412,35511,766-589
Grade 512,67811,692-986

The individual class cohorts showed an increase in students between grades K and 1, except for a decrease between fall 2019 and fall 2020.

Cohort Year 1Cohort Year 2ColorChange in Student Number
Grade K 2018Grade 1 2019Light blue540
Grade K 2019Grade 1 2020Light green-124
Grade K 2020Grade 1 2021Yellow545
Grade K 2021Grade 1 2022Orange627

There was an increase in students in a cohort between grades 1 and 2 for 2 years (2018 to 2019, 2021 to 2022), and a decrease for 2 years (2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021).

Cohort Year 1Cohort Year 2ColorChange in Student Number
Grade 1 2018Grade 2 2019Red245
Grade 1 2019Grade 2 2020Light blue-308
Grade 1 2020Grade 2 2021Light green-34
Grade 1 2021Grade 2 2022Yellow350
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There was an increase in students in a cohort between grades 2 and 3 for 2 years (2018 to 2019, 2021 to 2022), and a decrease for 2 years (2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021).

Cohort Year 1Cohort Year 2ColorChange in Student Number
Grade 2 2018Grade 3 2019Turquoise234
Grade 2 2019Grade 3 2020Red-238
Grade 2 2020Grade 3 2021Light blue-37
Grade 2 2021Grade 3 2022Light green183

There was an increase in students in a cohort between grades 3 and 4 for 2 years (2018 to 2019, 2021 to 2022), and a decrease for 2 years (2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021).

Cohort Year 1Cohort Year 2ColorChange in Student Number
Grade 3 2018Grade 4 2019Purple224
Grade 3 2019Grade 4 2020Turquoise-188
Grade 3 2020Grade 4 2021Red-168
Grade 3 2021Grade 4 2022Light blue255

There was an increase in students in a cohort between grades 4 and 5 for 2 years (2018 to 2019, 2021 to 2022), and a decrease for 2 years (2019 to 2020, 2020 to 2021).

Cohort Year 1Cohort Year 2ColorChange in Student Number
Grade 4 2018Grade 5 2019Dark green135
Grade 4 2019Grade 5 2020Purple-163
Grade 4 2020Grade 5 2021Turquoise-150
Grade 4 2021Grade 5 2022Red272

Overall, there were 71,737 K-5 students in 2018 and 68,221 in 2022. This is a decrease of 3,516 students. This would be a similar amount as 7 elementary schools with 500 students each.

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