Baltimore City Youth Data Scorecard

What is the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP)?

The MCAP exams are Maryland’s state standardized tests administered annually in the Spring. The MCAP replaced the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in 2019. The MCAP was set to debut in the 2019-2020 school year, but due to the pandemic, the exam was next offered during the Fall of 2021. Because this test was taken at a different time than all other standardized tests, and because the Fall 2021 tests were modified and condensed, we do not include these results in our scorecard.

The MCAP was administered in its full form in the spring of 2022 and 2023. Despite the MCAP being a different test than the PARCC exams administered pre-pandemic, the State of Maryland routinely compares proficiency rates between the two tests as if they were the same. With two years of post-pandemic MCAP data (2022 and 2023), we can start to understand better how Baltimore City students are doing in Math and English Language Arts, and how proficiency rates compare to pre-pandemic levels.

How is the MCAP calculated?

Individual scale scores from MCAP tests are converted into one of four performance levels: Distinguished, Proficient, Developing, and Beginning. Our scorecard reports the percentage of students who score at least Proficient.

How are we doing on this measure?

Proficiency rate changes in the MCAP Algebra 1 exam mirror trends seen in MCAP math tests in earlier grades. The first results after the onset of the pandemic saw large decreases in proficiency rates both in Baltimore City and Maryland. In 2019, 9.1% of Baltimore City students who took the Algebra 1 MCAP scored at least Proficient; less than 5% of Baltimore City students managed the same feat in 2022. The 2023 results saw a bounce back in the positive direction, with 6.4% of students in Baltimore City scoring Proficient or higher. However, this rate is still lower than rates seen before the pandemic.

As with other MCAP tests, the Algebra 1 test scores reveal large differences across racial and ethnic groups. In 2023, less than 5% of Black of African American students scored proficient or higher, compared to 6.4% of Hispanic/Latino students of any race, 33.3% of White students, and 35.3% of Asian students.

Data Source

Maryland Report Card, Maryland State Department of Education

What is the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP)?

The MCAP exams are Maryland’s state standardized tests administered annually in the Spring. The MCAP replaced the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in 2019. The MCAP was set to debut in the 2019-2020 school year, but due to the pandemic, the exam was next offered during the Fall of 2021. Because this test was taken at a different time than all other standardized tests, and because the Fall 2021 tests were modified and condensed, we do not include these results in our scorecard.

The MCAP was administered in its full form in the spring of 2022 and 2023. Despite the MCAP being a different test than the PARCC exams administered pre-pandemic, the State of Maryland routinely compares proficiency rates between the two tests as if they were the same. With two years of post-pandemic MCAP data (2022 and 2023), we can start to understand better how Baltimore City students are doing in Math and English Language Arts, and how proficiency rates compare to pre-pandemic levels.

How is the MCAP calculated?

Individual scale scores from MCAP tests are converted into one of four performance levels: Distinguished, Proficient, Developing, and Beginning. Our scorecard reports the percentage of students who score at least Proficient.

How are we doing on this measure?

Similar to 3rd and 8th graders, 10th graders have also experienced a dramatic increase in proficiency rates from 2019 to 2022. Only 16.0% of 10th grades were at least proficient on the MCAP Grade 10 ELA exam in 2019, compared to 34.0% in 2022. However, unlike 3rd and 8th graders, Grade 10 scores decreased slightly to 31.2% proficient in 2023. This decrease was largely experienced by Black and African American students, whose proficiency rate declined from 32.8% in 2022 to 29.1% in 2023 (still well above pre-pandemic levels). Comparatively, White students' scores increased from 64.0% in 2022 to 64.6% in 2023. Hispanic/Latino students of any race also increased scores up to 26.9% in 2023, the highest proficiency rate for the group since 2015.

Data Source

Maryland Report Card, Maryland State Department of Education

What is the four-year and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate?

The four-year and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate is the proportion of students who graduate in four or five school years with a regular high school diploma. For any given cohort, students who are entering grade 9 for the first time form a cohort that is subsequently “adjusted” by adding any students who transfer into the cohort later during the next three years, and subtracting any students who transfer out, emigrate to another country, or pass away during that same period.

How is the four-year and five-year adjusted cohort graduation rate calculated?

The four- and five-year graduation rate is calculated by tallying the number of students who graduate within four or five years, including the summer following their fourth/fifth year of high school, with a regular high school diploma, and dividing that figure by the number of students who form the adjusted cohort for that graduating class. Students who drop out of high school remain in the adjusted cohort.

How are we doing on this measure?

The four-year high school graduation rate has been steadily decreasing in Baltimore City from 2018 (72.2%) to 2022 (68.7%). The graduation rate in 2022 was lowest for Hispanic/Latino students of any race (51.3%), followed by Black or African American students (71.1%), White students (72.9%), and Asian students (89.4%). Female students (75.0%) had a much higher four-year graduation rate than Male students (62.4%) in 2022.

After decreasing for a few years, the five-year high school graduation rate slightly increased in 2021 to 72.6%. This increase was largely due to an increase in graduation rates for White students, whose rates increased from 73.3% in 2020 to 79.2% in 2021. Over the same time period, Black or African American students’ graduation rates decreased from 74.4% to 73.5%. Similar to the four-year graduation rate, Female students (77.6%) had a much higher five-year graduation rate than Male students (67.2%) in 2021.

Data Source
Maryland Report Card, Maryland State Department of Education

What is college remediation?

College remediation refers to the number of students enrolling in post-secondary education who are required to complete college-level remedial work before institutions believe they are prepared to succeed in credit-bearing coursework. Post-secondary institutions have different criteria to determine whether a newly-enrolled student is required to undergo remediation. Remediation in college delays the process of earning a degree, creating financial implications in the short and long term for students.

How is the college remediation rate calculated?

Individual post-secondary institutions determine the criteria to assess whether a student needs remediation. As such, schools vary widely in their policies for offering and/or requiring remediation. The college remediation rate divides the number of public high school graduates in a given year who were required to take remedial courses at community colleges and four-year public institutions in Maryland by the number of public high school graduates attending these higher education institutions.

How are we doing on this measure?

While remediation rates have declined every year in Maryland since 2014 (53.3% in 2014, 32.7% in 2020), the trend in Baltimore has had more ups and downs. In 2020, 58.3% of Baltimore students required remediation in college, a decrease from 63.6% in 2019. However, a lower percentage of Baltimore students required college remediation in 2017 (57.8%) and 2018 (56.0%). Due to the fact that the state of Maryland takes time to collect and analyze this data, we have a limited understanding of how the pandemic will affect remediation rates.

Data Source
Maryland Higher Education Commission Annual Data Book, Maryland Higher Education Commission