Executive Summary

Baltimore City Public Schools shows uneven but meaningful Blueprint implementation progress. Pillar 2 (High Quality & Diverse Teachers and Leaders) is rated Exceeds: teacher vacancies fell from 240 in 2023-24 to 69.5 in 2025-26, National Board Certified teachers grew from 0 to 67, retention reached 66.2%, and the SY26 minimum teacher salary of $62,482 is above the $60,000 requirement.^[1] The AIB also approved the district's Career Ladder on January 29, 2026 with no further revisions required.^[2]

Pillars 4 (More Resources for Students to be Successful) and 5 (Governance and Accountability) are rated Meets. Chronic absenteeism fell from 58.1% to 46.4% since 2021-2022, and every school is now a designated community school.^[1] On governance, the AIB approved all seven components of the 2024 implementation plan on December 19, 2024, and a cross-office Blueprint Leadership Team has met monthly since 2022.^[1] However, 0% of the FY26 budget in two programs is coded at the school level, and only 3 of 9 programs are budgeted to meet minimum school funding.^[1]

Pillar 1 (Early Childhood Education) is rated Approaching and Pillar 3 (College and Career Readiness) is rated Does Not Meet. Kindergarten readiness improved from 30% to 52% between SY21-22 and SY24-25, but roughly 51% of surveyed pre-K paraeducators do not meet credential requirements.^[1] In Pillar 3, 3-8 ELA proficiency rose to 30.5% and math to 13.9%, yet only 23.9% of SY24-25 high school completers met the College and Career Readiness standard.^[1] Priorities ahead include math achievement, instructional fidelity, mixed-delivery pre-K agreements, and school-level budget coding.