Elmer A. Henderson: a Johns Hopkins Partnership, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Elmer A. Henderson: a Johns Hopkins Partnership

Elmer A. Henderson: A Johns Hopkins Partnership is a regular public school in Baltimore serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of Baltimore City Public Schools and sits in a city that shifted from heavy industry to a service-oriented economy, with Johns Hopkins Hospital and University as its top employers. The school’s name reflects an institutional partnership, though the data provided does not describe what that partnership entails in practice.

The student body is overwhelmingly Black. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls a moderate-sized student population for a pre-K through eighth-grade building, and its grade-level enrollments are relatively balanced across the elementary and middle years. The school does not have charter or magnet status, and Title I status was not reported.

On state assessments, academic performance is a central consideration for families looking at this school. Math proficiency rates are low across all tested grades. In several elementary and middle grades, only a very small share of students meet the state’s proficiency benchmark. English language arts results are higher than math but still well below state averages in most grades. One exception is seventh grade, where a notable share of students score proficient, the strongest reading result in the school. Science and social studies proficiency rates are quite low in the grades where those subjects are tested. Overall, the data shows a school where most students are not reaching state proficiency levels in core subjects. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what instructional supports and interventions are in place.

Because the school serves only pre-K through eighth grade, it does not have a high school graduation rate. Chronic absenteeism data and special population counts such as students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the data provided. The school’s environment and access sections show no reported figures on discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance, so those dimensions cannot be characterized here.

Housing in the school’s zip code is well below the Maryland and national benchmarks for home values, which is consistent with Baltimore’s overall affordability relative to the state. Rents are moderate compared to incomes. The broader city has seen a slight population decline in recent years, and a major infrastructure project to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge is underway. The city is walkable in several historic districts, with the Inner Harbor as a central civic anchor. Major employers are Johns Hopkins and the Port of Baltimore.

When compared to other districts in Baltimore city, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint in that small comparison set. That positioning reflects the very low proficiency levels that are common across the city’s schools rather than strong performance in an absolute sense. The data available only covers a single school year, so no trend in proficiency can be established.

The partnership with Johns Hopkins carried in the school’s full name is a distinctive feature that may matter to families, but the data does not detail any specific programs, curriculum elements, or supports that result from that relationship. A parent would need to ask directly what the partnership provides in terms of resources, exposure, or academic enrichment. For a family considering this school, the core facts are a predominantly Black student body with high economic need, low standardized test results across most subjects and grades, and a location in a large, historic city undergoing economic transition and modest population loss.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · district not reported

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

Grade 42%

School 2% · district not reported

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · district not reported

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

Grade 68%

School 8% · district not reported

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

Grade 74%

School 4% · district not reported

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 323%

School 23% · district not reported

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

Grade 417%

School 17% · district not reported

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · district not reported

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

Grade 623%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · district not reported

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

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · district not reported

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

Grade 87%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 20 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 17% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 9 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 3Lower-income6%Higher-income13%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income6%Higher-income17%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income8%Higher-income29%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income47%7 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income6%Higher-income19%13 pp gap