The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Phoenix Academy
Phoenix Academy is a public special education school in Annapolis, Maryland, serving students from second through twelfth grade. It operates as part of Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The school's designation as a special education facility signals that it is designed for students with identified disabilities who require a more specialized instructional environment than a traditional comprehensive school would provide. This setting shapes every other attribute a parent would want to evaluate.
Enrollment is relatively small for a school covering such a wide grade span, with students distributed across the grade levels from a handful in the earliest grades to a larger concentration in the high school years. A substantial majority of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. The student body is majority Black, with White students making up about three in ten, Hispanic students just over one in ten, and small shares of multiracial and American Indian students. Data on students with Individualized Education Programs and English learners was not available in the profile, which is notable given the school's mission; a parent would want to understand exactly which disability categories and support levels the school is equipped to serve.
State testing results are thin, which is typical for a school of this kind. In eighth-grade science, every student who took the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment scored below the proficient threshold. The same pattern appeared in eighth-grade social studies, where all tested students scored below proficient. Results in math and English language arts for sixth, seventh, and eighth grades were suppressed by the state, which happens when the number of test-takers is too small to report reliably. The school's nature means that standard proficiency measures are not a useful gauge of what students experience day to day; families considering Phoenix Academy should ask directly about academic progress monitoring, postsecondary transition planning, and how the school measures growth for students who may not take grade-level assessments at all.
Because Phoenix Academy is a special education school, some metrics that matter for traditional schools do not apply. The graduation rate was not reported in the available data. Discipline data, attendance rates, and staffing ratios were also absent. A parent evaluating this placement would need to gather those details from the school or the district's special education office.
Annapolis, the state capital, is a compact, walkable historic city on the Chesapeake Bay with a dense downtown core anchored by the Maryland State House, St. John's College, and the U.S. Naval Academy just beyond the city limits. The local economy is shaped by state and county government, higher education, tourism, and maritime industries. Housing in the area commands prices well above national and state medians, which is a practical consideration for any family moving to the district for a special education placement. The broader Anne Arundel County district recently opened Severn Run High School in the western part of the county, which may affect staffing or program configurations elsewhere, but no specific changes at Phoenix Academy were noted in the available district information.
What Phoenix Academy offers is a specialized path for students whose needs are not met in a regular school setting. The academic data available does not describe typical achievement in the way it would for a comprehensive school; families should treat that as a prompt to investigate further rather than a verdict on the school's quality. The key questions are whether the school's therapeutic and instructional model matches a specific student's disability profile, and what the district's continuum of placements looks like for students who may enter or exit Phoenix Academy over time.
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