Barclay Elementary/middle, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Barclay Elementary/middle

Barclay Elementary/Middle sits in Baltimore’s 21218 zip code, a city neighborhood where housing values and rents sit noticeably below national medians and have slipped slightly over the past year. The school serves prekindergarten through eighth grade as a regular public school within Baltimore City Public Schools. A very large share of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a high-poverty context that shapes many of the outcomes a parent would want to weigh.

On state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, Barclay’s proficiency rates in mathematics were low across every tested grade, from third through eighth. In most grades, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above fell well into the single digits, and in two separate grades no student reached that bar. In English language arts the results were higher, climbing from a modest rate in third grade to a rate in the fortieth-percentile range in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Eighth-grade ELA dipped slightly from that peak. Science results, tested in fifth and eighth grades, were low, and social studies proficiency in eighth grade was also low. Compared to other districts in Baltimore city, the school’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint, though that comparison set contains only two districts total. The national standardized data, which provides this comparison, does not currently allow for a trend analysis beyond a single year of reported ELA performance.

The student body is predominantly Black and Hispanic, with a very small share of White and Asian students. The school serves roughly 400 students across ten grades, with each grade enrolling between about thirty and fifty students. This is not a large school, and its PK-8 structure means a child could attend from early childhood through middle school without a building change. The district does not report the share of students with disabilities or English learner status, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about the supports available in those areas.

There is no graduation rate available because the school does not serve grades eleven and twelve, so a parent looking for high school outcomes cannot draw that signal here. The absence of high school grades also means that measures like AP course offerings or dual-enrollment pathways are not applicable; the school’s academic identity is defined entirely by elementary and middle grades. The district data does not show any charter or magnet designation for Barclay, and Title I status was not reported.

The district itself, Baltimore City Public Schools, does not have parent-relevant strategic changes reported in recent years. The city of Baltimore is an independent city with an economy anchored by Johns Hopkins Hospital and the university, the port, and a service sector that replaced its earlier heavy-industry base. The city’s population has declined slightly in recent years. The neighborhood around the school is part of a historic urban fabric, with walkable blocks and a stock of older buildings, though the broad economic trends in housing suggest affordability pressures that are typical of Baltimore.

A family considering Barclay would find a school serving a high-need population, where math achievement is a clear soft spot and ELA is stronger but still well below statewide levels. The small PK-8 setting may appeal to families who want continuity across grades. The proficiency picture is one a parent should investigate further with the school, asking what academic interventions and supports are in place and how the school addresses the gap between math and reading outcomes.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 310%

School 10% · district not reported

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 47%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 72%

School 2% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · district not reported

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 318%

School 18% · district not reported

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · district not reported

even with state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 641%

School 41% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 744%

School 44% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 834%

School 34% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Science

Grade 57%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · district not reported

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 17% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolBaltimore City Public Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income13%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income9%Higher-income7%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income7%Higher-income13%6 pp gap