Baltimore schools spend a staggering $16,00 per student - the fourth-highest rate in the nation - and still an investigation by Fox45's Project Baltimore revealed that at six city schools, not one student scored proficient on either the statewide tests for English and math.
At West Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High, one of five high schools and one middle school where not one student scored a four or a five on the state test, only one out of 185 students who took the test last year scored a three, while 165 students scored a one, the lowest possible score.
The schools are:
• Booker T. Washington Middle School
• Frederick Douglass High School
• Achievement Academy at Harbor City
• New Era Academy
• Excel Academy at Francis M. Wood High
• New Hope Academy
http://foxbaltimore.com/embed/news/project-baltimore/6-baltimore-schools-no-students-proficient-in-state-tests
"That's absurd to me," says Janel Nelson, the mother of one Frederick Douglass student. "That's your teacher's report card, ultimately." Janel's son Navon Warren lost his father when he was three months old, followed by two uncles and a childhood friend, all whom were gunned down in the streets of Baltimore by the time he was 18. But Warren is one of the lucky ones; a champion swimmer, he won a scholarship to Bethany College in West Virginia and is preparing to leave Baltimore in the fall, one of only a few dozen students in his class to go to college. In fact, only 50% of Frederick Douglass students ever graduate.
Baltimore is one of a handful of U.S. cities - along with Chicago and Washington D.C. - where violent crime is once again on the rise after a two-decade decline brought us to historic lows. Crime, fueled by the opioid epidemic and decades of failed liberal policies.
Now, abandoned buildings dot the landscape and drug addicts can be seen lying in the streets. Through the end of April, the city had recorded 118 murders - putting it on track to surpass 400 for the year, what would be a new all-time peak for the murder rate. But what's worse, even more people are dying of drug overdoses, thanks to synthetic opioids like Fentanyl and Carfentanyl that can be 100 times more potent than heroin.
Returning to the money for just a moment, it's difficult to imagine how a school system can spend so much money and still be so ineffective. Warren, to his credit, has a simple answer, yet illuminating answer. “The tests are harder than what we’re learning in class.”