Pr. George's Cheers Gains In Test Scores

Only four county schools of the 73 rated as needing improvement are eligible for removal from the watch list, Tompkins said, because the law requires adequate progress two years in a row.

Still, analysis of the state test data by The Washington Post shows that Prince George's shrank some achievement gaps from 2003 to 2005.

· In third-grade math, the percentage of students reaching proficiency or better climbed 16 points in Prince George's, to 65 percent from 49 percent. That was a faster rate of growth than in most other systems. The state average climbed 12 points.

· In third-grade reading, the Prince George's proficiency-or-better percentage rose 24 points. The state average climbed 18.

· In fifth-grade reading and math, the Prince George's proficiency-or-better percentage scores rose 13 and 15 points, respectively, while the state averages climbed 9 points for reading and 14 points for math. And in the same comparison for eighth-grade reading and math, Prince George's kept pace with or gained on the state.

These findings are significant because the county has more public school students (136,000, as of September) than any county in Maryland except Montgomery (139,000). It also has more black students -- 105,000 -- than any county, and the second-largest population of Hispanic students (17,000, after Montgomery's 27,000).

Officials heaped credit on Prince George's teachers and principals. Tompkins cited the new textbooks, a more focused county curriculum, a strategic plan, teacher and staff training, vacation homework packets and extra test preparation.

Unmentioned was the leader who had preached those initiatives for two years and appointed principals such as Judith White. Hornsby e-mailed a statement to The Post: "When you surround yourself with talented people and provide school leaders and teachers with the instructional resources and professional development clearly focused on teaching and learning, the results speak for themselves."

Test results for individual schools can be found athttp://www.mdreportcard.org. Click on the name of a county and then the link labeled, "How did our schools perform?"