Best Public Schools in Baltimore, MD

Baltimore, Maryland, is home to 269 schools serving students from elementary through high school, primarily within the Baltimore County Public Schools and Baltimore City Public Schools districts, creating a landscape of stark contrasts between high-performing magnets and deeply struggling neighborhood schools.

The data reveals a clear "two Baltimores" in education. Elite high schools like Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (ranked #1 in the state) and Eastern Technical High School (ranked #9) achieve near-perfect English proficiency rates and strong graduation rates, while schools like Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts (ranked last) have 0% math proficiency and a 57.5% graduation rate. Chronic absenteeism is a primary crisis, with many city high schools exceeding 80% absenteeism (e.g., Edmondson-Westside High at 86.6%), while top county schools like Western School of Technology have rates as low as 7.9%. Math proficiency is a universal challenge, with even top city magnets like Baltimore City College (46.7%) falling short, and many county high schools like Dundalk High (1.2%) and Patapsco High and Center for Arts (0.6%) showing near-zero proficiency.

Despite high poverty rates, some city schools like Western High (72.79% free/reduced lunch) and Paul Laurence Dunbar High (77.74%) achieve graduation rates above 90%, proving success is possible. Per-student spending varies dramatically from $15,600 at Eastern Tech to over $80,000 at specialized schools, but higher spending does not guarantee better outcomes—Patterson High spends $24,720 per student with a 59.3% graduation rate, while Catonsville High spends $16,555 with a 91.1% rate. For parents, the key takeaway is that school choice within Baltimore is critical, with magnet and selective-admission schools offering dramatically different outcomes than neighborhood schools.