A Study in Pride, Progress

Finally, school officials offered written arguments, like legal briefs, that beyond the bare numbers, Maury's improvements merited taking it off the federal bad list.

For several years, Maury had been known as troubled. Located in an affluent neighborhood near the George Washington Memorial Masonic Temple, the school draws most of its students from housing complexes farther away. Like most low-income children, they have, on average, lower test scores and need more help to improve.

In 2003, with the federal law taking effect, Alexandria Superintendent Rebecca L. Perry tried to shake up the school: She required all teachers to reapply for their jobs and gave each one who made the grade a $3,000 bonus. In 2004, she moved an unusually successful and energetic principal, Lucretia Jackson, into Maury and provided funds for new carpets, new tile walls, a new media center and more classroom space.

When Jackson arrived at Maury in the summer of 2004, she organized open houses for parents and put a sign out front that read, "Wanted: More Children to Love and Educate." She brought in volunteer tutors, made sure that no Maury class had more than 20 students and added hour-long after-school lessons three afternoons a week.

She patted backs, asked teachers what they needed and kept a close eye on test results.

A new round of Virginia Standards of Learning tests were given in the spring of 2005. Those were the scores being examined by the state.

"There are many factors and calculations that have to be made to help with the final determination of AYP," said Julie Grimes, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Education.

During a recent interview in his office, Dawson leafed through copies of the materials he sent to Richmond and noted both the high and the low spots. Perhaps the best news was Maury's jump in English scores among third- and fifth-graders. The percentage of children passing the test shot up from just over 50 percent to 92 percent.

Dawson said he knew that information had been greeted with whoops of joy at Maury, but he tried to remain cool and objective, not unlike certain "Star Trek" characters. "Not to sound like Data or Mr. Spock," he said, "but I am not supposed to be emotionally involved."

Other Maury results also looked good. The third-grade passing rate in history went from 61 percent to 89 percent, and the third-grade passing rate in science from 66 percent to 78 percent. Fifth-grade history went from 81 percent to 86 percent, and fifth-grade math from 61 percent to 88 percent.

A disappointment was the drop from 60 percent to 58 percent in the fifth-grade passing rate in science. This year, Jackson has added a full-time science teacher and a lab and is working to integrate science into language arts and math classes.

Dawson prepared a detailed chart that showed the average Maury scores on each test, 2005's compared with 2004's. He even used one of his favorite computer tools -- the Data Disaggregator -- to clarify each gain, no matter how slim. His analysis of the fifth-grade writing test showed that 22 of the 24 students tested had passed, albeit three of them by a hair. But the other 19 improved nicely.