Baltimore high schoolers barely able to read or do math past elementary levels

According to Fox Baltimore, Project Baltimore obtained student iReady assessment scores in math and reading that show some students are performing ten grade levels below their age. The iReady test is given three times over the course of an academic year to track progress. In a reading assessment, out of nine students who completed it, only two scored at a high school level. One scored at a seventh-grade level, while the other six scored at an elementary school level.

In math, out of the seven students who completed the assessment, only two scored at a high school level. The others, who are in grade 11 in Baltimore City Schools, scored at an elementary level.

One of the students was performing math at a first-grade level, which according to standards means simple addition and subtraction, such as 2 plus 3 and 9 minus 7, and connect-the-dot puzzles.

Carl Stokes, a former City Council member and charter school operator said, "They were passing students on who couldn't read, who couldn't compute. I know principals in schools who say, it happened to me, who said, 'I can't pass this student to the next grade. They're not ready.' North Avenue (The district headquarters) refused to allow us to fail the students without a fight. And we fought because we knew we would be hurting the kid."

Stokes said approximately 90 percent of his incoming sixth graders, every year, were not reading or doing math at grade level. He added, "That's the deal we have here. We have thousands of kids who are not getting an education, who get out of school or quit school and they have no skillset to sustain themselves. They can't. They can't get a decent job. They can't live well."