Baltimore School District on Upward Swing

Andrés A. Alonso, the chief executive officer of the Baltimore public schools, shares a laugh with Communications Director Edie House-Foster after leaving City Springs Elementary School. Three years after Maryland’s top education official threatened to take over or close several low-performing Baltimore schools the district has moved out of the bottom academically and gained momentum around raising student achievement.
—Stephen Voss for Education Week

The Baltimore schools are seeing steady progress in student achievement and recently were released from 'corrective action' status by the state.

By Lesli A. Maxwell

Baltimore

Two years ago, only 150 students attended Holabird Elementary, then a K-5 school in the southeastern corner of this city. Competition from charters and from regular public schools in nearby Baltimore County had drained families from Holabird, a chronic underperformer.

So when Andrés A. Alonso, the chief executive officer of the Baltimore city schools, began last year to allocate money to schools based on their students’ needs, Holabird stood to be hit hard. Achievement had started to rise, but its small roster put the school at risk of losing six teachers unless more students enrolled.

Principal Lindsay Krey, about to start her second year as the leader of the school, decided to...