Pr. George's Schools on Watch List Pile On Drills, Cheers as State Tests Loom
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
This week, March madness sweeps Maryland public schools. Not over hoops, but over state achievement tests.
Nowhere is the frenzy more intense than in Prince George's County, where schools are battling to raise their academic reputation.
Last week in the cafeteria of Forest Heights Elementary School, an emcee rapped, drummers pounded, majorettes twirled batons and cheerleaders cried: "Pump it up, pump it up! You gotta gotta gotta pass the test! C'mon and pass the test! Pass it! Ace it! On the MSA -- the coming test -- we want you to do your best!"
A pep rally for a test.
At nearby James Madison Middle School, another scene unfolded: An algebra teacher drilled students on common mistakes after a warm-up for the tests, known as Maryland School Assessments. Seventh-grader Fredrece Clingman raised her hand and asked whether all the advance fuss might backfire.
"They put us under so much pressure to take these tests," the 12-year-old said as class ended. "Then when we take them, we just go blank. We don't know what to do. Sometimes I go blank."
During the next two weeks, roughly 400,000 students statewide from third through eighth grade will take reading and math tests to determine how their schools rank in a ratings-hungry society.
The No Child Left Behind law, which requires these tests, has put a spotlight on Prince George's that is singular in the Washington suburbs.
Maryland now lists 75 Prince George's schools on a watch list that declares them in need of improvement. Targeted schools get extra scrutiny and help from the county and the state. But they also face sanctions, including the threat of a forced reorganization or dismissal of key staff, if they continue to fall short over several years.
No other local system has more than 14 schools -- Montgomery County's total -- on the Maryland watch list. In Northern Virginia, where most achievement tests are given in late May and early June, relatively few schools are on that state's watch list. Locally, only D.C. public schools, where testing begins in late April, face challenges akin to those in Prince George's. More than 100 schools in the District are on a watch list.
Prince George's officials have tried nearly everything in recent years to raise scores. They have extended the school day and school week for thousands of students who are below grade level or in danger of falling short. They've standardized curricula to ensure adherence to state guidelines -- and thus to the MSA, now in its fourth year. They have prepped kids on exam strategies through a program called "test sophistication" and have sought to recruite more teachers to bolster instruction for students with disabilities. They've also put new principals into some lagging schools and assigned "turnaround specialists" to a few schools that have been on the watch list for several years.
For now, the hubbub is at such schools as Forest Heights in Oxon Hill, a few blocks from Southeast Washington, and James Madison, in the Upper Marlboro area outside the Capital Beltway. Today and tomorrow, students will take math tests lasting about 60 to 75 minutes each day. Next week, they'll sit for two days of reading tests of similar duration. Most questions are multiple choice, but some call for written responses.
Forest Heights, with about 280 students, is on the watch list, but just barely. It reached nearly all academic standards last year and made what Principal Theresa Merrifield called "phenomenal" gains. If a few more special education students had passed the tests, it would have reached every standard.
Now Merrifield and her teachers are pushing for the full academic seal of approval: "adequate yearly progress." They are paying extra attention to some of the sticking points on previous exams, including geometry, poetry and informational texts. They have posted strategies on the cafeteria walls to help children remember the crucial elements for some "brief constructed responses" -- giving complete answers, citing details from a passage and elaborating on their reasoning.
Constance Moore, a reading specialist, said she believes that the students are ready. "They're used to being tested," she said. "This is not something we just dump on them at once." Yet she expressed some skepticism about the public focus on exams. "It's too much," she said. "It bothers all of us -- every educator I talk to." Plus, she said, "it's stressful."
To help teachers and students blow off steam, Oxon Hill High School dispatched a pep squad recently to elementary schools. Cheerleaders and student entertainers performed in a pulsating Forest Heights cafeteria. Senior Kenneth Williams, 17, gave youngsters a motivational rap: "No stopping Forest Heights . . . at the end of the day . . . Forest Heights is the best on the MSA."
Joxion Whitney, 8, in third grade and about to take his first state test, leapt off a bench and took a frenetic, solo dance spin, encircled by cheering high schoolers. The test matters, he said afterward, "because it tells the teachers if you can go to college. Or go to middle school or high school."
At James Madison, with about 900 seventh- and eighth-graders, the tests will determine whether the school can move off the watch list. It has been on it since 2001, with special-ed test scores a major concern. Principal Mark King said his school is poised to ditch the "needs-improvement" label. It met all standards last year, but the law requires a repeat performance to escape the list.
King frequently consults a binder he calls "the money book." It details the MSA performance of each student, which is handy when parents complain about testing. "We only have them for two years," King said. "My whole intent is to have these children pass ninth grade. That's what this is all about. The bottom line is, do you want your child to be on grade level?"
Like other schools, James Madison broadcasts MSA vocabulary words every morning over the loudspeaker. One recent word: "innocuous." Definition: "harmless, producing no injury." An announcer gave an example of usage tailored to adolescents: "No gossip is innocuous. Gossip always hurts somebody."
Since December, nearly 100 students have taken after-school tutorials in reading and math to help them catch up to grade level. Language arts teacher Nicholas Brown has posted proficiency targets and a graph with practice test results -- which are steadily rising -- on his classroom door to help students track progress. "The idea is that each time they take it, they're going to get better and better," Brown said.
His class goal is for 80 percent of students to reach proficiency. King's schoolwide goal is 70 percent. The state standard, which rises annually, is 60 percent this year.
In Djuana Wilson's seventh-grade algebra class, students reviewed a final practice test. These advanced students are highly likely to pass the MSA. But Wilson gave them tips on solving probability problems and writing out answers that demonstrate their reasoning. "You need to be fantastic writers in mathematics," she exhorted them. "Don't cop out because you think you're just working with numbers."
Fredrece, the student who asked about MSA jitters, said the practice test "wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."
Classmate Akeira Cramer, 12, said: "It is kind of stressing us out. But we're well prepared."
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