Zero Math Proficiency: The National Impact on Black Students

by Quintessa Williams, Word in Black

In August, the Maryland State Department of Education released the results of the 2023-2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, which were met with disappointment and frustration in Baltimore. Despite roughly 70% of the district’s K-12 students being Black, only 10.2% were proficient in math, a slight increase from 8.8% the previous year.

While this represented some progress, some folks were forced to look at the results differently: nearly 90% of Baltimore students were still not proficient in math. 

Jovani Patterson, a Baltimore resident and former 2020 Republican nominee for City Council president, has long been at the forefront of calling for accountability. In 2022, Patterson filed a lawsuit against the city’s public school system, alleging that the district failed to educate students and, in the process, misused taxpayer funds. 

Today, he tells Word In Black that the root causes for this level of failure are too many to count.

“It’s a lot, and it’s enough blame to go around,” Patterson says. “You have some parents who want to be involved, but they’re being shut out of the conversation because they’re being told they don’t know how to educate their children. So parents “end up relying on teachers who are also dealing with implementing less foundational approaches to teaching.”  

Learn how this has led to some schools with no students proficient in math.

Discover one model that could help these students.

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