Summary:
There are eight elementary schools in Baltimore's 21217 zip code, all part of the Baltimore City Public Schools district, serving a high-needs population where an average of 84.6% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Mount Royal Elementary/Middle is the clear standout, earning a 3-star rating for three consecutive years and ranking in the 53rd percentile statewide—far ahead of all other schools in the area, which rank in the bottom 20%. Mount Royal is the only school where a majority of students (53.7%) are proficient in English Language Arts, and its math proficiency (31%) is more than double the district average. In stark contrast, Sandtown-Winchester Achievement Academy has the lowest scores, with just 0.5% math proficiency and 7% ELA proficiency, alongside the highest chronic absenteeism rate (72%) and poverty rate (95.12%). Harlem Park Elementary/Middle offers a bright spot with the lowest chronic absenteeism (29.3%) in the zip code, while Matthew A. Henson Elementary shows the second-highest math proficiency (18.3%).
Spending does not predict success here: the two highest-spending schools, Furman Templeton Preparatory Academy ($31,185 per pupil) and Matthew A. Henson ($28,098), have low math scores (9.7% and 18.3%, respectively), while Mount Royal has the second-lowest spending ($20,721) but the best results. The data also reveals volatility, as Midtown Academy dropped from the 51st to the 17th percentile and New Song Academy fell from the 29th to the 2nd percentile in recent years. Overall, the average chronic absenteeism across these schools is 45.8%, and average proficiency is just 10.8% in math and 23.2% in ELA, highlighting significant challenges that families should consider when evaluating options.
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