Modest Gains In D.C. Schools
Passing Rates In Math, Reading Still Less Than 40%

By Theola Labbé and Dan T. Keating
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 18, 2007

Most of the District's public school children still have poor reading and math skills, but students have made modest academic gains, most notably in math, according to results released yesterday in the 2006-2007 D.C. Comprehensive Assessment.

Overall, 42 schools met performance targets in reading and math, compared with 33 schools the previous year.

About 38 percent of elementary students achieved proficiency in reading, an increase of 1 percentage point over last year. The proportion of secondary-school students who met the reading benchmark rose 2.4 percentage points during the same period, from 32.3 percent to 34.7 percent, according to the office of the state superintendent.

In math, 30.5 percent of elementary students reached proficiency, an increase of 3.7 percentage points. Students in secondary schools made bigger gains, with 32.8 percent proficiency, 6.5 percentage points higher than last year.

Those results cover students at 191 public schools, including 141 schools within the D.C. school system and 50 charter schools, which are taxpayer-funded but independently run. Students in grades 3 through 8 and 10 took the test in April. They were required to write explanations for their math answers and to write responses on English test questions.

The scores are a critical starting point for Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee as she lays out her academic vision for improving the low-performing urban school system. Although the teaching and learning that led to the scores happened before she was named June 12 to lead the school system, Rhee said in an interview that the scores will be used as a way to "benchmark growth possibilities."

Rhee said principals have discussed the scores this week during orientation sessions, where principals at higher-performing schools were teamed up with principals of other schools to talk about how they had improved their results.

"They were analyzing and pulling the scores apart," Rhee said. "When you have your own peers talking to you about it, it gives a different level of understanding."

This was the second year of the Comprehensive Assessment, and education officials have said they expect to see modest gains each year as students grow accustomed to the test and teachers adjust their lessons.

Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, said this year's results reflect the difficulty of the test more than the comfort level of District students and teachers. Casserly said it is difficult to gain more than 3 points annually on the Comprehensive Assessment, which is based on a Massachusetts test.

"It looks like the gains in math are solid," Casserly said. As for reading, the results show the need for more intervention programs, he said.

"Whether under [previous superintendent Clifford B.] Janey or Rhee, this system is going to have a hard time seeing dramatic jumps on the test because of how difficult a test it is," Casserly said.

Eva Baker, director of the California-based Center for Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing said that the results in the second year of any test will be better but that the improvement often comes as a result of teachers concentrating their lessons on how to perform better on the test.

"People are focusing on the details of the test rather than on the content that the test is only supposed to sample," Baker said.

Of the 55,000 students enrolled in the D.C. school system, about 29 percent at the elementary level passed the math test, up 3 percentage points from last year. In elementary reading, 37 percent of students passed, 1 percentage point higher than last year.

Among secondary students, 26 percent passed in math, up from 23 percent the previous year. Reading on the secondary level stayed flat, with 29 percent passing.

Charter schools also performed better in math than reading.

Taking a closer look at school-by-school results shows a mixed picture of academic gains and losses. For example, Birney Elementary in Anacostia, which has gained a reputation for results among high-poverty students, went from 51 percent passing in math to 19 percent passing this year. The school also went down in reading, from 54 percent last year to 46 percent.

In contrast, many schools made adequate yearly progress for the first time, and some made big gains. Barnard Elementary in Northwest went from 24 percent passing in math last year to 54 percent this year. The school also posted significant gains in reading, from 37 percent passing last year to 65 percent.

The reasons behind this year's sizable shift in scores were not immediately clear. Officials at Birney and Barnard could not be reached to explain what happened.

For a school to make adequate yearly progress under federal law, students in eight "subgroups" have to meet performance targets. The categories include students with limited English skills, special education students and racial minorities.

Students are graded as below basic, basic, proficient or advanced, based on test scores. Next year, the school system will raise the minimum scores required to reach proficiency.

Of the city's charter schools, 10 made adequate yearly progress, up from four last year. That list included two schools that took the test for the first time in their first year of operation. Seven schools -- William E. Doar, Howard University Math and Science, Washington Math Science Technology, St. Coletta, SEED, Washington Latin and City Collegiate -- made adequate yearly progress for the first time. Three other schools reached performance targets for the second year in a row: Friendship-Woodridge, Howard Road Academy and KIPP DC's KEY Academy.