The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 6% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Hilton Elementary
Hilton Elementary is a regular public school in the Baltimore City Public Schools district, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school is located on Carlisle Avenue in Baltimore, a city that shifted from a heavy-industry base to a service-oriented economy anchored by major employers such as Johns Hopkins Hospital and University. Baltimore is a place of distinct historic neighborhoods and a walkable urban fabric, with more public statues and monuments per capita than any other U.S. city. The city’s overall population has seen a slight decline in recent years, and a major infrastructure project to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is underway, with completion expected in the fall of 2028.
The student body at Hilton Elementary is predominantly Black, with a very small share of white, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the economic circumstances of the community it serves. The school is about the size you might expect for an elementary school serving these grades, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across PK through fifth grade, though the third and fifth grade groups are slightly larger.
When it comes to academic performance on the state’s Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program and the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment, the results are low. In math, proficiency rates for all tested students were below where many families would hope, with essentially no students in fourth grade reaching the proficient level, a very small share in fifth grade, and a modestly larger but still low share in third grade. In English language arts, the results were also low: about a quarter of third graders met the proficiency bar, while the shares for fourth and fifth graders were measurably lower. In science, the share of fifth graders reaching proficiency was very small. Overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places Hilton Elementary in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Baltimore city, though the comparison set is small. These are the available state test results for a single school year, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what support structures are in place for students who are not yet meeting the benchmarks.
Because Hilton Elementary does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to consider. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, course access, and staffing were not available in this profile, so it is not possible to describe the school environment in those terms. The district brief reported no specific four-year changes of lasting parent impact from the search it conducted.
For a family considering this school, the central fact is the academic profile. The student body is largely low-income, and the state test results are below most county and state benchmarks. A parent who values a neighborhood school setting in Baltimore and wants to engage directly with the school about its academic interventions may find that Hilton Elementary is a fit worth investigating in person. A family looking for a school with a record of strong test performance would likely look elsewhere.
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