Original Research by School Decision on Paul Laurence Dunbar High
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School is a regular public high school serving grades nine through twelve in Baltimore City Public Schools. It sits in the city’s Orleans Street corridor, within a community shaped by Baltimore’s shift from heavy industry to a service-oriented economy anchored by Johns Hopkins Hospital and University, the Port, and an array of civic and cultural institutions. The school enrolls a large student body. The student population is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic share and very small numbers of white, Asian, and multiracial students. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
The academic picture at Dunbar comes with a stark contrast between subjects. In English language arts, a solid majority of students meet proficiency standards, a result that stands as a clear strength and suggests that the school’s literacy instruction is working for most of its students. In mathematics, however, the proficiency rate is much lower, landing below one out of every five students. The same low rate appears in Algebra I. This is a soft spot that a parent should look into further with the school. Science testing data for the grade eight assessment was suppressed, and since the school serves only high school grades, that gap likely reflects the untested grade range rather than withheld results. Because the school has only one year of data reported for each subject, no trend can be drawn.
The multi-year academic trends data set provides only a single point for the 2024-25 school year, so there is no way yet to see whether performance is improving or declining. A parent or resident looking for a trajectory will have to wait for subsequent years. Comparative positioning relative to other districts in Baltimore city was not available because the proficiency index, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism metrics were all missing for this school, so it cannot be placed among its peers using those standard measures.
The school’s environment and support systems are largely opaque in the data. Information on discipline rates, course access, staffing levels, attendance, and special populations such as students with disabilities or English learners is missing. A parent wanting to understand the school’s climate or the availability of advanced coursework, career pathways, or dual-credit programs should ask the school directly. The district itself reports no recent parent-relevant changes, leaving the context largely static.
Housing in the area, based on the zip code, carries a home value that is below both the Maryland state typical figure and the national typical figure. Rents are moderately priced relative to the national median income. The national unemployment rate sits at a historically normal level. These economic conditions suggest that the neighborhoods feeding into Dunbar are more affordable than much of the surrounding region, though affordability relative to local incomes is something a family would need to assess on their own terms.
Dunbar presents a mixed profile. It succeeds in ELA for most of its students but struggles substantially in math, and that disparity is the central academic fact a family should weigh. The school serves a large, predominantly low-income student body in a city with a rich but economically uneven civic fabric. Without data on graduation rates, advanced coursework, or student support services, a family interested in this school should press for those details to get a complete picture of what the school offers and where it falls short.
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