Research & Publications

Baltimore College Fact Book

Baltimore College Fact Book A detailed update through the class of 2018 as part of a series of reports about Baltimore City Public Schools graduates' transistion to college.June 2020Baltimore College Fact Book: Data Digest of College Access OutcomesBy Rachel E....

Thinking About School Quality

Previous work around school quality has typically identified schools that are “beating the odds.” Such an approach finds “outlier schools” by analyzing student outcomes, and studies these schools to determine what they appear to be doing well. However, in...

Thinking about Useful School Metrics: Comparing ‘Like’ Schools

In this new school quality brief, Baltimore City Schools researchers, Christopher Wohn, M.D. and Liepa Boberiene, Ph.D. share a new method to compare schools that are similar by student characteristics (i.e., the percent economically disadvantaged, and...

Thinking about Quality Schools

Previous work around school quality has typically identified schools that are “beating the odds.” Such an approach finds “outlier schools” by analyzing student outcomes, and studies these schools to determine what they appear to be doing well. However,...

OrchKids and Student Outcomes

Baltimore OrchKids: An Examination of Student Outcomes describes an analysis exploring the relationship between participation in OrchKids' out-of-school-time programming and several student measures. Using a quasi-experimental design, the research examined...

Early Childhood Data Collaborative

The Baltimore Early Childhood Data Collaborative (ECDC), formerly Early Education Data Collaborative (EEDC), began after the release of BERC’s report, Early Elementary Performance and Attendance in Baltimore City Schools’ Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten in March...

Improving Baltimore Students’ Access to College

This report, Improving Baltimore Students' Access to College, provides a qualitative account of the implementation of two college access support models in Baltimore City Schools. The initiative, launched in 2016-17, was developed by the College Bound Foundation, which...

Launching into Adulthood

Class of 2009 Six Years Later by Rachel E. Durham & Faith Connolly In a series of briefs, BERC presents research describing the educational and workforce outcomes of Baltimore graduates six years after graduation. We focus on the class of 2009 as it is the most...

BERC in EdWeek Promoting Youth Success

In BERC's work with City Schools, researcher Rachel E. Durham and practitioner Rachel Pfeifer show the power of a Research Practice Partnership through a pair of blogs that discuss work to promote youth success. Read more from the researcher perspective and...

BERC in Phi Delta Kappa

As community schools spread across the country, community school staff need effective approaches to engaging families and community-based partners. Such principles must be broadly applicable, given community schools’ mandate to adapt to different local contexts. Based...