The schools have lower dropout rates, better attendance and fewer discipline issues than the city's comprehensive high schools, according to a study released this year by the Urban Institute. On average, students in innovation high schools scored between 14 and 30 points higher on the Maryland High School Assessments than in other city high schools - not counting the selective schools such as City College. In addition, they attended school between 9 and 22 percent more days per year, the study found.
Students at ACCE said they came to the school four years ago almost on a lark. At the time, Baltimore was in the midst of a major reform of its high schools. With help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and local philanthropic groups, the school system was dividing its large high schools - with enrollments of about 2,000 - into two or three schools. At the same time, it was allowing groups to open charters and innovation high schools.
The innovation schools had a little more autonomy than the average school but less than a charter school.
Beginning five years ago, the city schools stopped assigning students to their neighborhood high schools. Instead, eighth-graders in the city were asked to choose the high schools they wanted to attend. And there were dozens of choices. Some, such as the Polytechnic Institute and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, require minimum grades and test scores, while most others were open to anyone who wanted to sign up.
Zimmerman and her classmates said the first years of ACCE were sometimes difficult. The school struggled with the violence at a neighborhood high school in the same building, with differences among students and with a move across town to a new location, students and faculty said.
Of the 150 students who started four years ago, only 95 will graduate together, said Cheyanne Zahrt, a 12th- grade administrator. Many students switched schools when ACCE moved to a new location in Hampden. Others decided they wanted to get a GED or find an alternative route to an education, but only two or three of the original 150 can't be found, she said.
In a city with a dropout rate estimated from 40 percent to 60 percent, the school's ability to hold on to its students is unusual.
The innovation schools often have mandatory after-school activities, require students to do community service and oversee the college application process. ACCE students also must do an internship all day every Wednesday during their 11th-grade year.
