BALTIMORE - Baltimore City Public Schools’ fourth-grade students have narrowed the gap with their state and national peers in math since 2022, earning the third largest growth among school districts in large cities on The Nation's Report Card, released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—also known as The Nation's Report Card—is the largest nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in the United States know and can do in various subject areas. Since the 2022 report card, City Schools has emphasized student achievement in math, generating a two-year turnaround among fourth-graders that includes:
City Schools’ fourth graders approximately doubled the growth of their peers in large-city school districts and quadrupled the growth of national public students.
Fourth-grade economically disadvantaged students increased their math performance by 10 points.
Fourth-grade African-American students increased their math performance by 8 points.
Meanwhile, grade 8 math results largely held steady since 2022.
Investments in math are paying dividends, including professional learning institutes for teachers, more school-based math leads and coaches, and family engagement activities that support math learning outside the classroom.
“Our fourth-grade math performance is encouraging. We know our approaches are working, our families are supporting the work, and our staff continue to push boundaries for our young people to reach their potential,” said Dr. Sonja Brookins Santelises, chief executive officer of City Schools. Our focus is to continue the momentum of our acceleration efforts to reach more students.”
Read our 2024 NAEP performance summary
Reading performance holds steady.
The district’s focus and investment in high-quality curriculum and instruction contributed to noteworthy results in multiple areas on The Nation's Report Card. From 2019 to 2024, City Schools' fourth- and eighth-grade student scores were steady, while peers in Maryland and national public schools experienced a significant decrease. City Schools' fourth- and eighth-grade performance is consistent with pre-pandemic 2019 levels.
Both outcomes result from City Schools' continued investments in literacy starting in the pandemic through 2024, including a focus on professional learning to support the Science of Reading, targeted daily tutoring, and the implementation of high-quality instructional tutoring. Since 2021-22, More than 14,000 students have participated in tutoring offerings.
The report card results align with other positive trends in literacy, particularly in the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program. Since 2022, literacy proficiency in City Schools has increased by more than five percentage points. The growth since the beginning of the CEO’s tenure, the 2015-16 school year, has been more pronounced; City Schools literacy proficiency has grown by 13.6 percentage points, outpacing the state’s 8.9-percentage point growth during that same period.
City Schools has experienced particularly strong gains in middle school literacy since 2016 with increases between 13 and 16 percentage points in grades 6-8 during that period.
The Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS), a coalition of the nation’s 78 largest school systems, pointed to the district’s recovery plan as a foundation for potential growth.
“Notably, Baltimore City Public Schools made significant improvement in fourth-grade mathematics, recovering faster than Maryland and significantly faster than public schools nationally,” said Ray Hart, Executive Director of the Council of the Great City Schools. “Their gain of 8.4 points was the third largest improvement in fourth-grade mathematics among large city districts. The district also maintained performance trends in all other tested areas. The district’s improvement over the years is a testament to the board and the staff remaining consistent in pursuing improved outcomes for students in the city.”