Wildwood Elementary/middle, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Wildwood Elementary/middle

Wildwood Elementary/Middle is a regular public school in Baltimore City serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. It operates as a neighborhood school within the Baltimore City Public Schools system, a district that covers the entire independent city. The school draws its students from the surrounding residential area and feeds into one of the city’s high schools after eighth grade.

The student body is predominantly Black, with a very small share of white, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a high-poverty context. Enrollment spans a fairly typical range for a combined elementary and middle school, with each grade from kindergarten through eighth grade having a similar number of students. Special education and English learner counts were not available in the data, so a parent with a child in either category would want to ask the school directly about available services.

Academically, the story is mixed and varies sharply by grade. On the Maryland state assessments, which are the MCAP for most subjects and the MISA for science, overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades places Wildwood in the top quartile among Baltimore city districts—a relative bright spot against a citywide backdrop. However, the absolute proficiency rates are low. In math, the early elementary grades show a moderate share of students meeting the bar, but that share drops considerably in the middle grades: sixth through eighth grade see only a small fraction of students proficient. A similar pattern appears in reading, where fourth grade stands out with a stronger result relative to other grades, while the upper elementary and middle grades are markedly weaker. Science proficiency is very low at both tested grade levels, and eighth-grade social studies results are also low. A parent looking at these numbers will see a school that performs somewhat better than many of its city peers but where the majority of students are not reaching grade-level benchmarks, especially as they move into the middle years. The single year of data means there is no trend to judge whether this is improving or declining.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate. No data on chronic absenteeism or discipline was available, leaving gaps a family may want to explore firsthand.

The housing market around the school reflects typical Baltimore affordability. Home values are well below the Maryland state average and also below the national median, and rent is modest relative to income. The city of Baltimore itself has a rich walkable urban fabric, with many historic districts, a strong civic core around the Inner Harbor, major employers like Johns Hopkins Hospital and University, and professional sports teams. The city’s population has seen a slight recent decline, and a major bridge reconstruction project is underway with a completion timeline in the late 2020s. The district did not have any publicly reported changes of lasting parent impact in recent years.

For a family considering Wildwood Elementary/Middle, the school offers a K-8 pathway in a single building, a relatively strong position within the Baltimore City district’s academic landscape, and a location in a historic city neighborhood with below-average housing costs. The main considerations are the low absolute proficiency rates, particularly in middle school math and science, and the absence of detailed data on special education services and chronic absenteeism. A parent with a child entering the upper grades should inquire about academic supports and enrichment options to understand how the school addresses the gap between its relative standing and the actual learning outcomes.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 324%

School 24% · district not reported

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · district not reported

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 68%

School 8% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 77%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 312%

School 12% · district not reported

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

Grade 441%

School 41% · district not reported

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · district not reported

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

Grade 627%

School 27% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · district not reported

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 53%

School 3% · district not reported

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

Grade 84%

School 4% · district not reported

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

Social studies

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 17% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 8 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-income16%Higher-income7%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income7%Higher-income11%3 pp gap