A nonprofit organization in Baltimore, MarylandCan, chose 10 high schools in the U.S. for Baltimore schools to model themselves after. Austin ISD’s Crockett High School was among them.

“Across the country, there are non-entrance-criteria public high schools proving that poverty doesn’t have to dictate outcomes. There’s so much we can learn from these success stories,” stated the Baltimore Opportunity Schools Vol. 2 report.

Crockett was the only non-charter school chosen among the 10 model schools.

The group chose high schools that are successfully serving large percentages of low-income students by breaking the link between poverty and low academic achievement. Their findings were based on data, included schools that served similar populations to Baltimore public schools and did not have entrance criteria.

At these schools, SAT scores and college entrance rates are higher than they are at any non-entrance-criteria high schools in Baltimore.

Crockett High School’s composite SAT score in 2013 was 1,284, while its percentage of low-income students was 68 percent.

Crockett Principal Craig Shapiro, who was named Austin’s principal of the year in 2014, said, “The accolade I most treasure is not the improvement in the data, but the climate at Crockett.”

Since the beginning of Shapiro’s tenure in 2008, attendance rates have improved by 7 percentage points, suspension rates have decreased by 72 percent and federal graduation rates have increased about 20 percent.

The report gives Maryland’s public schools, particularly in Baltimore, national models for success.

For the full report, please visit http://opportunityschoolsvol2.marylandcan.org.