Morrell Park Elementary/middle, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Morrell Park Elementary/middle

Morrell Park Elementary/Middle is a regular public school in Baltimore serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits within the Baltimore City Public Schools district. The school is not a charter school.

The student body draws from the surrounding residential neighborhood in southwest Baltimore, an area that, like much of the city, has seen its population edge downward in recent years. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a high-poverty context. Racially and ethnically, the student population is diverse, with no single group holding a majority; Hispanic students make up the largest share, followed by white students, Black students, and smaller groups of Asian, multiracial, and Native American or Pacific Islander students. This peer environment is more mixed than that of many schools in the region.

On the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, which the state uses to measure academic proficiency, Morrell Park’s results are well below most schools across the state. In mathematics, the share of students scoring proficient or above declines sharply as grades advance: the rate is higher in third grade, falls through fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, and reaches no proficient students at all in eighth grade. Combined across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index lands above the midpoint when compared only to the small set of other districts in Baltimore city, but that comparison set is limited to two districts and the absolute rates are very low. Reading scores are stronger than math scores but still low. In English language arts, proficiency rates range from below one-fifth of students in third grade to two-fifths in eighth grade, with fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh grades falling in between. Science results are also low, with fewer than one in ten fifth graders scoring proficient and about one in five eighth graders doing so. On the eighth-grade social studies test, about one in eight students scored proficient.

Because the school does not serve high school grades, no graduation rate is reported. That is consistent with the school’s grade span, not an indicator of a problem in that area.

The available data includes only a single year of test results, so there is no trend to examine. No information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing was provided. A parent may want to ask the school directly about those areas.

Housing in the Morrell Park ZIP code is considerably more affordable than the Maryland statewide benchmark. Home values have been roughly flat recently, and rents have held steady. For a family considering the area, the cost of housing is a relative advantage compared with many other parts of the Baltimore region.

The district itself, Baltimore City Public Schools, did not surface any major recent changes or strategic initiatives in the available research, so what a parent can see is the current school as it is.

Morrell Park offers a full pre-K-through-eighth-grade pathway, meaning a child could attend the same school from early childhood through middle school without a transition. For families weighing this school, the central consideration is the academic attainment picture, which is low across nearly every tested subject and grade. The school serves a high-need population, and any parent considering enrolling should discuss with the school what academic supports, interventions, and enrichment are in place, as the test results alone give a limited view of the full program.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 325%

School 25% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · district not reported

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 53%

School 3% · district not reported

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

Grade 62%

School 2% · district not reported

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

Grade 74%

School 4% · district not reported

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 1 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 317%

School 17% · district not reported

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · district not reported

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

Grade 535%

School 35% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · district not reported

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

Grade 726%

School 26% · district not reported

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

Grade 840%

School 40% · district not reported

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Science

Grade 57%

School 7% · district not reported

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

Grade 821%

School 21% · district not reported

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

Social studies

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 17% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · even with 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 4Lower-income7%Higher-income6%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income27%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income9%Higher-income21%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income10%Higher-income22%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income9%3 pp gap