The top reported proficiency rate is 8% in English language arts. The lowest is 2% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cecil Elementary
Cecil Elementary is a regular public school in Baltimore, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It operates within Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland’s largest district. Located on Cecil Avenue in the northern part of the city, the school sits in a neighborhood of rowhouses and modest apartment buildings, within walking distance of several parks and a short drive from the Johns Hopkins University homewood campus.
Baltimore itself is a city that shifted from heavy industry to a service-based economy, with Johns Hopkins Hospital and University now the largest employers. The city is known for its walkable historic districts, a dense urban fabric, and civic anchors like the Inner Harbor and Fort McHenry. Its population has seen a slight decline in recent years, and a major infrastructure project to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is underway. For a family considering Cecil Elementary, this is the broader context: a large, old city with deep-rooted neighborhoods and ongoing economic transitions.
The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with a very small number of white, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding community. The school’s enrollment is roughly the size one would expect for an elementary in this grade band, with classes distributed relatively evenly from kindergarten through grade five.
On state assessments, achievement levels are low across all tested subjects and grades. In both math and English language arts, the share of students scoring at proficient or above is in the single digits for most grade levels, with fifth grade math showing no students reaching that threshold. Science results for fifth graders are similarly very low. Compared with other elementary schools in Baltimore city, Cecil Elementary places in the bottom quartile. A single year of data is available, so there is no way to gauge whether these results represent a longer trend or a recent drop. A parent would want to look into this further with the school, asking about instructional supports, intervention programs, and what initiatives are in place to lift achievement.
Because Cecil Elementary serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and course access was not available. Similarly, staffing data and English learner or special education counts were missing from the records reviewed. These gaps mean a complete picture of the school environment and student support services is not possible from the data alone.
The school is not a charter or magnet school, and no Title I designation was listed. The Baltimore City Public Schools district did not report any recent four-year changes of lasting parent impact, so the district context appears stable from a parent perspective.
For a family weighing Cecil Elementary, the academic numbers are a clear soft spot. The school serves a high-poverty population, and its test results suggest that many students are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks. A parent considering this school would want to know about specific curricular approaches, tutoring, after-school programs, and how the school supports students who are behind. The surrounding neighborhood offers the amenities of a major city, but housing values in this zip code are below both the state and national medians, and have decreased slightly year over year. Rent is also modest relative to income, making the area more affordable than many other parts of the Baltimore region.
This is not a school where a parent can assume strong academic performance from the state data alone. Families who prioritize a small, neighborhood elementary with a diverse urban setting and are prepared to engage deeply with the school’s academic challenges may find it a fit. Those seeking higher baseline proficiency or a more resourced environment would likely look elsewhere.
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