How a Prince George’s County middle school more than doubled its English proficiency rates

Principal Warren Tweedy walks the halls of Andrew Jackson Academy beaming with pride. Over the last five years, he has worked diligently to change the school’s perception and performance. It all started with making changes to the school’s physical building.

Tweedy points out the fresh coats of paint that replaced the “dreary, drab” walls, and the bright, newly swapped light fixtures. Hanging proudly are flags representing the home countries of his students and their families. Tweedy paid for many from his own pocket.

“I’m just really trying to instill that school pride, and that, hey, this is our school,” Tweedy said. “This is our home during the day. Let’s keep it clean. Let’s not have it look a certain way.”

When Tweedy came on as principal in 2021, the Forestville elementary and middle school was navigating several obstacles. There were 15 unfilled jobs, large class sizes, chronically absent students and low parental involvement. The campus was littered with trash, Tweedy said. He felt that the school had become the neighborhood dumping ground. The three-decade veteran of Prince George’s County Schools said he knew he had to lead by example, so he started picking up trash himself every day.

And as the environment shifted, Tweedy filled those jobs, and the students’ academic performance started to improve.

In a three-year period, Andrew Jackson Academy more than doubled the percentage of its middle schoolers who pass the state English test, skyrocketing from 14.1% in 2022 to 35.8% in 2025.

The school’s growth is a part of a larger wave of progress among the county’s middle schools’ English test scores, with several schools seeing their proficiency rates climb by double digits in just three years. In 2022, only 11 middle schools in the county could say that at least half of their students were proficient in English. Three years later, in 2025, six more schools crossed that threshold.

While Tweedy acknowledges that the school has a lot of room to grow, he said the best has yet to come for the Forest Creek students who attend his school.

But first, he and his staff needed to address the systemic issues before they could begin addressing academic performance.

“The scores weren’t reflective of the students’ abilities,” Tweedy said. “I really had to, that first year, kind of take that one on the chin, I’m not gonna do too much unless I get my people in here.”

Tweedy has successfully filled in most jobs, reduced class sizes in the middle school, and brought in staff who are invested in the long run.

“Teachers aren’t leaving, so that consistency helped,” Tweedy said.

The school recently unveiled a new library. It also built a community classroom with a stocked food pantry and small washing machines and dryers for families to do laundry.

Down the hallway, the Foundation for the Advancement of Music & Education built the school a state-of-the-art music lab where students produce music and record songs. To Tweedy, these resources show his students that they are valued.

Sharon Yates is a mother of seven. Six of her children have attended Andrew Jackson Academy, and four are currently enrolled. Yates said before Tweedy took over as principal, the school was “horrific.”

“Mr. Tweedy has done a lot as far as finding the right people to bring into the school, getting educators that really care about the students, and communicating with parents,” Yates said.

Middle schools see gains

John Hanson Montessori, located in Forest Heights, went from fewer than 50% of its middle school students passing the state English test in 2022 to over 80% in 2025.

Judith P. Hoyer Montessori in Landover made considerable gains, too, watching its middle school proficiency rate climb from less than 50% in 2022 to 70% in 2025.

Several other schools saw double-digit growth over this three-year period, including Benjamin D. Foulois Academy, Dora Kennedy French Immersion, Chesapeake Math and IT Public Charter, and Thomas G. Pullen, each of which had 65% or more of its middle school students testing proficient in English in 2025.

Historical top performers also found room to grow. Accokeek Academy middle school students saw about a 7.7 percentage-point increase over three years, with around 68% of its students proficient in 2025. Seabrook’s Robert Goddard Montessori has the highest percentage of middle school students who scored proficient in English, with an 87% rate in 2025 and about a 6.8 point increase over three years.

How does the county compare to the rest of the state?

Despite these milestones, the district still trails the rest of Maryland in English proficiency.

Dr. Judith White, the chief academic officer for Prince George’s County Public Schools, said it takes strong collaboration between her office, school leaders and teachers to see growth in the test scores, and she’s seen that work pay off in the middle schools and among segments of students.

As the chief academic officer, she’s working with schools to identify what’s working and where the curriculum needs adjustment. She said leaders found that many students weren’t writing enough.

“Writing was a big influence for us this school year,” White said.

The school system is also bringing literacy coaches directly into classrooms to support teachers, part of a statewide initiative.

“Job-embedded coaching is one of the fastest ways that we see educators able to move student achievement,” White said.

To White, the schools that have shown the greatest improvements are the schools that have clear structures in place, invest in the school culture and believe in the students.

“Our belief and expectation about efficacy and what a child can do matters,” she said.

His school still has work to do, but Tweedy maintains that changing the culture and restoring pride is what ultimately unlocked his students’ academic potential.

“The babies of Forest Creek, they’re smarter than you think,” Tweedy said. “They can read, they can write, they are exposed to a lot.

“My ultimate goal before I leave here was to try to make this a Blue Ribbon school, as close to a Blue Ribbon as possible,” Tweedy continued. “We are slowly getting there.”