PRINCE FREDERICK — Five Calvert County public schools now hold the state’s top five-star rating, up from three a year ago, according to the 2026 Maryland School Report Card released Thursday by the Maryland State Department of Education.
Every one of Calvert County Public Schools’ 22 rated schools earned at least three stars. Thirteen earned four stars and four earned three, the school system said in a news release. The number of three-star schools dropped from six to four, so more than 81% of Calvert’s rated schools now sit in the top two tiers.
For Calvert families, the star rating is the most visible score the state puts on a school. It is the number posted on each school’s state report card and the one parents see first when they compare schools. This year’s results put Calvert well ahead of where Maryland stood a year ago, at a time when state leaders are rebuilding the formula behind the stars.
| Calvert rating | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Five stars | 3 | 5 |
| Four stars | Not stated | 13 |
| Three stars | 6 | 4 |
| Rated schools | Not stated | 22 |
“The 2026 Maryland School Report Card reflects the hard work of our students, staff, and families,” Superintendent Marcus Newsome said in the release. “We are proud of the progress our schools have made and remain committed to continuous improvement so every student graduates prepared for success in college, careers, and life.”
What the stars measure
The ratings come from 2025-26 school year data and run from one to five stars. Elementary and middle schools are scored on academic achievement, academic progress, progress toward English language proficiency, and a school quality and student success measure that includes attendance. High schools are scored on achievement, graduation rate, English language proficiency, readiness for college and careers, and school quality.
That makes the stars a different yardstick from the national rankings that put Huntingtown and Northern high schools at the top of Calvert in U.S. News earlier this week. The state rates every school on the same formula, including elementary and middle schools, while U.S. News ranks only high schools.
The release did not name which schools earned five stars. Ratings and detailed reports for each school, including enrollment, attendance, test results and graduation rates, are posted on the state’s Maryland School Report Card website.
How Calvert compares
Statewide, nearly 89% of public schools earned one of the top three star ratings this year, according to MSDE figures cited by Charles County Public Schools in its own release Thursday. In Calvert, that share is 100%.
The gap is wider at the top. When the state released the 2025 report card last November, 569 of Maryland’s 1,312 rated schools, or 43%, held four or five stars, according to the governor’s office. Calvert’s 2026 share is nearly double that.
Next door, Charles County Public Schools reported 10 four-star schools, 27 three-star schools and two two-star schools among its 39 rated schools this year. Its release did not list any five-star schools.
A formula in flux
The star system itself may not look the same much longer. Maryland is redesigning its school accountability system with guidance from the Maryland Assessment and Accountability Advisory Committee, a panel of state and local education leaders. When last year’s ratings came out, State Superintendent Carey Wright said the current formula was too complicated and should be simplified to reward student growth and make ratings easier for local districts to calculate.
Until a new system is in place, the stars remain the state’s main public measure of school quality. Calvert’s school system said it uses state test results and other performance data to guide instruction and find areas for growth, and it encouraged families to look up their own school’s rating.
Calvert County Public Schools serves about 15,000 students in 12 elementary schools, six middle schools and four high schools, plus the Career & Technology Academy and Calvert Country School.
