The Baltimore School for the Arts was highlighted in The New York Times’ article about the outstanding educational and artistic outcomes of the nation’s top public performing arts high schools:
“Traditional public schools often don’t tap into students’ passion and motivation to succeed, whether arts or specific subjects, said Chris Ford, director of the Baltimore School for the Arts, a public school that opened in 1980. At his school, which is 47 percent African-American, 50 percent of ninth graders arrive at below grade level, he said. By the end of senior year, 97 to 100 percent graduate on time and are college bound. This year’s 90 graduates were offered a total of $14 million in scholarships, and many are headed to top-tier colleges, including Juilliard, University of Chicago, Vassar, Middlebury and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
‘That is not what you expect in an urban public school,’ he said. ‘Our students do that because our school connects with their future.’ “
