Montgomery Sees Middle Schools Fail Despite Aid

Montgomery County's elementary schools have benefited from millions of dollars of increased investment in recent years, but students risk losing those gains as they advance to county middle schools that are not faring as well.

School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has poured money into programs such as full-day kindergarten and reduced class sizes for younger students, and more of the system's neediest elementary schools are making their achievement targets. But statewide data released this week showed that older students in Maryland's largest school system are lagging.

Of the 34 Montgomery schools that failed to meet achievement targets required under the federal No Child Left Behind law, 21 were middle schools, according to a report released Wednesday. The number of county middle and elementary schools that did not make the "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) gains was the highest ever for the well-regarded school system.

"We know that [middle schools] aren't performing at a level that they need to be, so some interventions have been put into place," said Linda Ferrell, director of middle school instruction for the system. "Believe me, community superintendents and our offices have been working with our schools and saying, 'We have targets to meet.' But we acknowledge there is a gap and that we can all benefit from improvement."

The 2002 law requires schools to make adequate yearly progress toward ensuring that all students are reading and doing math at grade level and toward closing the achievement gap. Schools that fail to meet the criteria for two or more years can face consequences including state takeover.

Montgomery officials acknowledged that their middle school program has weaknesses. Last year, a 109-page audit of the county's middle schools found inconsistencies in teaching methods. Programs to reach children most in need of extra help were in place, but the offerings were fragmented and not necessarily connected to overall school efforts to aid students, according to the audit.

The quality of the middle schools is of growing significance because almost half of the county's tax dollars go to the school system. With the first group of students to benefit from Weast's early-year reforms scheduled to begin middle school in a few weeks, community members say that if improvements are not made, the recent progress will be set back.

Montgomery educators said that won't be the case.

"We know this group is coming in, and we know we have to sustain their achievement -- that's a group we know is a focus," Ferrell said. "But last year's sixth- , seventh- and eighth-graders are equally as important to me. Parents need to know we're committed to all of our children."

Montgomery officials said the 2006 AYP numbers don't paint an accurate portrait of the school system. They said they are being unfairly penalized because, like other systems across the country, they are missing the mark mostly among special education students. Of the 34 schools that did not meet their AYP targets in 2006, 15 failed in the area of special education only. Montgomery officials said that once the state develops an alternative assessment for these students, those numbers will fall.

In 2006, 13 elementaries did not meet their achievement targets compared with two in 2005.

Advocates for special education students said that rather than wait for an alternative assessment, system officials should focus on strategies to help such students.

Bob Astrove, a Montgomery parent and longtime special education activist, said he was not surprised that the system's special education students continue to lag behind their peers. "There's no plan," he said, for bolstering these students' achievement.

Gwendolyn Mason, director of the department of special education services for the Montgomery system, said that it has a comprehensive plan for addressing the needs of all students. She said that since 2004, Montgomery schools have received grants from the state targeted at schools where special education students are not meeting standards for reading. Local funds are also used for intervention programs.

The AYP results showed that poor, non-English speaking and Hispanic children are also not faring well in the system's middle schools. Schools spokesman Brian Edwards said that in some cases, those numbers may be misleading because students who fall into those categories are sometimes double-counted. For example, some may be special education students who are limited-English speakers.

Edwards said a task force plans to present a list of recommendations for improving middle schools this fall. The goal is to pilot new programs at a handful of campuses in fall 2007. To reach students now in middle school, the system has expanded after-school programs for struggling students and has strengthened reading programs for older students, he said.

Still, officials said they understand that middle school parents might be concerned about the quality of their children's education. Although current middle-schoolers won't benefit from the plan under development, Ferrell said, their needs will not be ignored.

"We have had extended year [programs], have had reading interventions and the current seventh-graders will have benefits of reading interventions," she said.