Uniforms Only Scratch the Surface

McKnight and the teachers attribute their success on the exam partly to a spreadsheet they developed with page after page of topics teachers are supposed to cover under Maryland's statewide curriculum. Teachers have found that the checklist helped them cover everything before the spring tests. Several other schools have replicated it.

"It gives them a visual look at what they have taught and when they have taught it," said Mandy Panetta, a former classroom teacher who now oversees gifted education at the school.

In class, students learn a daily MSA vocabulary word and familiarize themselves with the vernacular of the statewide test.

"Why is a topic sentence important, Alexis?" Quinn Antes, a fourth-grade teacher, recently asked.

"A topic sentence is important so they know what you're talking about," replied student Alexis Randall.

No one in class was out of uniform.

More than four-fifths of parents said they favored mandatory uniforms in a spring 2005 survey. Fourteen students showed up out of uniform on the first day. Only two or three students a day violate the policy. The school keeps backup uniforms and has a washer and dryer, which were donated by a teacher's parents.

"You don't go to class without a uniform," McKnight said.