Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle vs Moravia Park Elementary

Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle and Moravia Park Elementary sit 1.2 miles apart in Baltimore, yet their overall ratings differ by 0.3 points — Armistead Gardens at 9.3/10 and Moravia Park at 9.0/10. Both schools rank exceptionally well statewide, but Armistead Gardens claims the stronger position: #16 of 1,363 Maryland schools compared to Moravia Park's #41 of 1,363. That gap is narrow in absolute terms, but Armistead Gardens's edge is consistent across multiple dimensions.

The academic score is where the two schools separate most clearly. Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle scores 8.6/10 in academics versus Moravia Park Elementary's 7.3/10 — a 1.3-point gap that represents a meaningful difference in measured proficiency. Growth tells a different story: both schools are near-identical, with Armistead Gardens at 9.9/10 and Moravia Park at 9.8/10, indicating that students at both campuses are advancing at an exceptional pace relative to peers with similar starting points. Whatever the baseline differences in academic proficiency, both schools are moving students forward at roughly the same elite rate.

Moravia Park Elementary serves a higher-need population, with 84% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch compared to 74% at Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle — a 10-percentage-point difference that makes Moravia Park's near-equivalent growth score all the more notable. Moravia Park is also the smaller campus, enrolling 629 students versus 767 at Armistead Gardens, and it maintains a slightly more favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.9:1 compared to Armistead Gardens's 12.6:1. Both ratios are strong by Baltimore standards, but families prioritizing classroom density may note the difference.

The most concrete structural difference between the two schools is grade span. Moravia Park Elementary serves grades PK through 5, meaning families will face a middle school transition after fifth grade. Armistead Gardens Elementary/Middle covers PK through 8, keeping students in one building through eighth grade and eliminating that transition entirely. For families who value continuity — or who want to avoid navigating a separate middle school application — this distinction alone may be decisive.