Original Research by School Decision on Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts
Augusta Fells Savage Institute of Visual Arts is a small public high school in Baltimore, serving grades nine through twelve. It offers a focused arts curriculum embedded within Baltimore City Public Schools. The school's enrollment is overwhelmingly Black, with a very small share of Hispanic and white students, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
State testing data is mostly unavailable for the school. The most recent available single-year data shows that roughly one in five students met proficiency standards in English language arts, a result that comes from a single year with a changed assessment framework. No comparable math or science proficiency data was available, and there is no multi-year trend to assess whether this is an improving or declining picture. A parent may want to ask the school directly for its current academic results and how it supports students who need to build foundational skills.
The school is a Baltimore City Public Schools institution, and among the district's other high schools, a direct comparison on proficiency, graduation rates, or attendance could not be made from the data provided. The available data does not include a four-year graduation rate or chronic absenteeism rate for this school, which are common metrics for high schools. A parent interested in these outcomes may need to consult the school or district directly.
The setting is urban, in the Harlem Park neighborhood of West Baltimore. The area has a mix of rowhouses, community organizations, and older commercial corridors. Housing in the school's ZIP code is notably affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, with both home values and rents well below those averages. This reflects the broader West Baltimore housing market, where values are low and a significant share of residents rent. The city of Baltimore has a tiered architecture of neighborhoods, historic districts like Mount Vernon and Federal Hill, and a downtown core anchored by the Inner Harbor, though the school sits outside that immediate downtown concentration.
The district brief for Baltimore City Public Schools did not identify any recent major changes that would alter a family's experience of the school in the near term. The school itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. It is named for the sculptor and Harlem Renaissance figure Augusta Fells Savage, which signals its arts focus, though specific program offerings such as studio courses, partnerships, or portfolio requirements were not detailed in the available data.
For a family considering this school, the central considerations are a small, arts-themed environment in a low-cost urban setting, a student body that is almost entirely Black and predominantly low-income, and a single academic proficiency data point that suggests many students are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks in English language arts. Without graduation, attendance, or college-going data, the school's track record on postsecondary outcomes is not visible from the information at hand. A family with a student seriously interested in visual arts may want to investigate the program's depth, its connections to artists and institutions in the city, and what supports are in place for students who arrive with academic gaps.
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