Beechfield Elementary/middle, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Beechfield Elementary/middle

Beechfield Elementary/Middle is a regular public school in southwest Baltimore, serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of Baltimore City Public Schools, a district that covers the entire independent city. Baltimore is a large city with a service-oriented economy anchored by Johns Hopkins Hospital and University, a historic port, and well-known civic institutions around the Inner Harbor. The city's population has seen a modest decline in recent years, and a major infrastructure project is underway to replace a collapsed bridge with a completion target a few years out.

The school's enrollment is predominantly Black, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of white and Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the economic circumstances of the surrounding neighborhood. The school draws from a residential area of Baltimore, where home values are below the state and national medians and rents have been rising. The street is a typical city block, and the building is a neighborhood school without charter or magnet status.

Beechfield offers a full grade span from pre-K through middle school, which means families can keep their children in one building through eighth grade without a transition to a separate middle school. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and the state testing program covers only grades three through eight.

On state assessments in math, reading, science, and social studies, proficiency rates are very low across all tested grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above is in the single digits in most grades, and a few grade levels show no students reaching that bar. In English language arts, the rates are also low, with the highest single grade reaching about a quarter of students at proficiency, but most grades fall well below that. Science and social studies results are similarly low. These numbers represent the most recent year of available state testing.

When measured against other districts in Baltimore city, the school’s overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile. The comparison set is small, but even within that limited group, the scores are far below the lowest-performing district in the cohort. This is a significant indicator for families considering the school.

State data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, and staffing were not available in the materials provided. A parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns, class sizes, and support services such as special education and English learner programs, since those counts were also missing from the public data we reviewed.

Beechfield Elementary/Middle is a neighborhood school in a large urban district serving a high-poverty community. Its academic outcomes are very low on state tests, and there is no evidence of advanced coursework or specialized programs for the middle grades. For a family whose priority is a school with strong measured achievement and broad academic pathways, this school does not offer that kind of track record. For a family seeking a familiar, walkable K-8 option close to home in this part of Baltimore, Beechfield provides a single-site progression through eighth grade. The decision will likely turn on what other options are available and what level of academic support the school can provide beyond what the test scores show.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 313%

School 13% · district not reported

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 42%

School 2% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 52%

School 2% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 62%

School 2% · district not reported

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 73%

School 3% · district not reported

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

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 314%

School 14% · district not reported

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

Grade 46%

School 6% · district not reported

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 514%

School 14% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 66%

School 6% · district not reported

▼ 39 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 88%

School 8% · district not reported

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · district not reported

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

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

Social studies

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 17% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below 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-income22%Higher-income33%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income5%Higher-income9%4 pp gap