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
| 2018 | 2022 | Change in Student Number | |
| Grade K | 11,316 | 10,602 | -714 |
| Grade 1 | 11,581 | 11,414 | -167 |
| Grade 2 | 11,787 | 11,227 | -560 |
| Grade 3 | 12,020 | 11,520 | -500 |
| Grade 4 | 12,355 | 11,766 | -589 |
| Grade 5 | 12,678 | 11,692 | -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 1 | Cohort Year 2 | Color | Change in Student Number |
| Grade K 2018 | Grade 1 2019 | Light blue | 540 |
| Grade K 2019 | Grade 1 2020 | Light green | -124 |
| Grade K 2020 | Grade 1 2021 | Yellow | 545 |
| Grade K 2021 | Grade 1 2022 | Orange | 627 |
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 1 | Cohort Year 2 | Color | Change in Student Number |
| Grade 1 2018 | Grade 2 2019 | Red | 245 |
| Grade 1 2019 | Grade 2 2020 | Light blue | -308 |
| Grade 1 2020 | Grade 2 2021 | Light green | -34 |
| Grade 1 2021 | Grade 2 2022 | Yellow | 350 |

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 1 | Cohort Year 2 | Color | Change in Student Number |
| Grade 2 2018 | Grade 3 2019 | Turquoise | 234 |
| Grade 2 2019 | Grade 3 2020 | Red | -238 |
| Grade 2 2020 | Grade 3 2021 | Light blue | -37 |
| Grade 2 2021 | Grade 3 2022 | Light green | 183 |

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 1 | Cohort Year 2 | Color | Change in Student Number |
| Grade 3 2018 | Grade 4 2019 | Purple | 224 |
| Grade 3 2019 | Grade 4 2020 | Turquoise | -188 |
| Grade 3 2020 | Grade 4 2021 | Red | -168 |
| Grade 3 2021 | Grade 4 2022 | Light blue | 255 |
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 1 | Cohort Year 2 | Color | Change in Student Number |
| Grade 4 2018 | Grade 5 2019 | Dark green | 135 |
| Grade 4 2019 | Grade 5 2020 | Purple | -163 |
| Grade 4 2020 | Grade 5 2021 | Turquoise | -150 |
| Grade 4 2021 | Grade 5 2022 | Red | 272 |
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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