Clay Hill Public Charter School vs Perry Hall Elementary

Clay Hill Public Charter School and Perry Hall Elementary are separated by just one position in Maryland's statewide rankings — Clay Hill at #31 and Perry Hall at #32 out of 1,363 schools — and both earn an identical overall rating of 9.2/10. That near-dead-even standing makes this comparison genuinely close at the headline level, but the underlying data reveal meaningful differences that should inform a family's decision.

Academically, Perry Hall Elementary holds a clear edge: its academic score of 9.3/10 outpaces Clay Hill Public Charter School's 8.1/10 by 1.2 points, a meaningful gap on a 10-point scale. Clay Hill flips the advantage on growth, however, scoring a perfect 10.0/10 against Perry Hall's already-strong 9.6/10. That 0.4-point growth lead signals that students at Clay Hill are making measurably faster academic progress relative to their starting points — a metric that can matter especially for students who enter below grade level.

The two schools differ notably in size and student demographics. Perry Hall Elementary enrolls 432 students compared to Clay Hill Public Charter School's 293, and that smaller footprint at Clay Hill translates into a tighter student-teacher ratio of 12.7:1 versus Perry Hall's 14.9:1 — roughly two additional students per classroom. Clay Hill also serves a higher-need population, with 61% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch compared to 46% at Perry Hall, a 15-point gap that reflects meaningfully different community economic contexts.

At the program and grade level, both schools cover kindergarten through fifth grade, but Perry Hall Elementary adds pre-kindergarten, giving families with younger children an earlier on-ramp within the same building. Clay Hill Public Charter School operates as a charter, meaning enrollment typically requires an application or lottery rather than automatic neighborhood assignment, while Perry Hall functions as a traditional district public school with attendance-zone enrollment.