Clay Hill Public Charter School, Baltimore MD

Original Research by School Decision on Clay Hill Public Charter School

Clay Hill Public Charter School is a regular elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in the Baltimore City Public Schools system. The school is situated on East Pratt Street in Baltimore. The city is an independent city with a mix of residential neighborhoods and a service-oriented economy anchored by Johns Hopkins Hospital and University, the Port of Baltimore, and civic attractions around the Inner Harbor. Baltimore’s population has seen a slight decline in recent years. A major infrastructure project is underway to replace the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. No specific recent changes of lasting parent impact were identified for the district.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial number of students who identify as Black. White students and students who identify with two or more races make up much smaller shares. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is on the smaller side for a public school serving this grade band.

State testing data from a recent year on the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program shows a pattern of low proficiency rates in math across tested grades. Rates in reading and English language arts are somewhat higher but still below a majority in every grade where a precise result was reported. For third-grade reading, a range was reported rather than an exact result, and the data does not give a definitive figure. In science, the proficiency rate on the Maryland Integrated Science Assessment was very low. The overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, when combined into a single index, is in the top quartile relative to districts in Baltimore city. That comparison set includes only a small number of districts, so the positioning speaks mostly to within-city variation rather than a broad state standing.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate, and state test participation rates were not reported in the available data. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available for this school.

The school is a charter school, which means it operates with some autonomy from the district while remaining a public school. The composition of the student body, the school’s size, and its status as a charter school are characteristics that families may weigh differently depending on their priorities.

The academic performance numbers are the central soft spot here. Proficiency rates are low in every subject and every grade for which a precise result exists. A parent considering this school will likely want a conversation with the school about how instruction is organized, what interventions and supports are in place, and what recent progress look like on internal assessments that might not appear in the state data. The school’s own website, listed in the school’s directory information, would be a natural next stop for information about curriculum, enrichment, and the specific educational model that differentiates a charter from a traditional district school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 347%

School 47% · district not reported

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 45%

School 5% · district not reported

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

Grade 59%

School 9% · district not reported

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

Grade 65%

School 5% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 415%

School 15% · district not reported

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

Grade 523%

School 23% · district not reported

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

Grade 633%

School 33% · district not reported

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · district not reported

▼ 15 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.