The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Furley Elementary
Furley Elementary is a regular public school in Baltimore serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Baltimore City Public Schools system. The school is located on Sinclair Lane in the eastern part of the city, a neighborhood of rowhomes and single-family houses.
The student body at Furley is predominantly Black, with a much smaller share of Hispanic students and small numbers of white and Asian students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which places the school in a high-poverty context. This is a community that, broadly speaking, faces economic challenges, and the school’s resources and academic outcomes reflect that reality.
State testing data from the 2024-25 school year, the only year available in the records, shows that the share of students scoring at the state’s proficient level was low across all subjects tested. In math, proficiency rates were similar across the tested grades, all under about one in ten students. In English language arts, there was more variation: the share of students reaching proficiency was higher in third and fourth grade than in fifth grade, where it dropped to roughly one in eleven. Fifth-grade science results showed no student reaching the proficient level. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the two districts that make up Baltimore city, though with a small comparison set this means it is in the middle of a very narrow field.
The data for chronic absenteeism, special education identification, and English learner status were not available in the records provided, so there is no way to assess those dimensions of the student experience from this dataset. A parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students with disabilities and students learning English, and about its attendance patterns.
Furley is an elementary-only school, so there is no graduation rate, no high school course offerings, and no data on college or career pathways. Its program offerings were also absent from the records. Whether the school runs specialized programs, such as a STEM focus or a dual-language track, is not something the data clarifies.
Baltimore itself is an independent city that has shifted from an industrial past to a service-oriented economy, with Johns Hopkins Hospital and University as the dominant employers. The city’s population has experienced a slight decline in recent years. The Inner Harbor remains the focal point of commercial and civic life, and the city has a dense network of historic neighborhoods, many of which have walkable streets. For a family living in the eastern part of the city, Furley serves a neighborhood-boundary attendance zone. The housing in the area, based on market data for the zip code, is significantly less expensive than the statewide or national median, which may make homeownership more accessible for families who want to live near their child’s school. Rents have seen a slight dip recently.
For a family considering Furley, the central reality is that state test scores are very low. This is a school where most students are not meeting grade-level benchmarks, and where the community it serves contends with concentrated poverty. These numbers do not tell a story about the quality of instruction or the dedication of staff, but they do indicate that a parent choosing Furley should expect that their child may need significant academic support, and that the school itself may be working to address deep-rooted challenges. The district brief turned up no specific recent changes to the school’s programming or leadership that would signal a shift in direction. A parent should visit, talk to the principal, and ask what academic interventions and enrichment are actually in place.
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