By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast marched down a hallway on the first day of classes in the newly modernized Parkland Magnet Middle School in the Rockville area, trailed by a retinue of students. Then he stopped and asked, "Who's taking algebra?" Three hands went up.
A few years ago, the question would have seemed more fitting in a high school. But today, half of Montgomery students take high school algebra before they leave the eighth grade, part of a regionwide trend toward more rigorous instruction in middle school.
Middle schools are the center of attention as Washington area school systems enter the 2007-08 academic year, which began yesterday in Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel and Charles counties and in the District. Four of eight middle schools in Charles, eight of 19 in Anne Arundel and 11 of 38 in Montgomery missed their achievement targets this year under the No Child Left Behind law.
School boards in the Washington area and beyond are looking for ways to fix middle schools. They are widely regarded as the weak link in the K-12 system, a conviction reaffirmed by low scores on statewide exams such as the Maryland School Assessment. Test scores, parent involvement and overall academic luster all seem to decline in the middle grades, educators say, and disciplinary problems tend to rise. Few middle schools can match the high schools they feed in either academic rigor or teacher specialization.
In Montgomery, a $10 million, three-year middle-school effort has been launched this year to train teachers, accelerate curriculum, particularly in reading and math, and improve the leadership structure in schools.
The Prince George's County school system, which opened last week, also has intensified its focus on middle schools, adding an International Baccalaureate Middle Years program to some schools.
Yesterday, Weast toured a revitalized Parkland, where, after a $31 million modernization, classrooms are equipped with interactive wall-mounted screens that function as chalkboard, projector and computer rolled into one. The school is an aerospace magnet, offering such courses as matter and energy and astronomy to students as early as the sixth grade. The curriculum was designed to challenge and engage the middle-grade student.
"Kids here love robots," said Benjamin Ouyang, the acting principal. "They love space. They're Trekkies, a lot of them."
In a sixth-grade astronomy class, students used an electronic pointer to identify planets on the wall-mounted screen. Teacher Dorian Janney outlined plans for the first class project: a scale model of the solar system, rendered in toilet paper.
In addition to middle-school reform, Montgomery embarks this week on full-day preschool at 10 high-poverty campuses and on a new extended-day program, High School Plus, to replace evening high school.
In Charles, students filed into the new Theodore G. Davis Middle School, a $27.5 million Waldorf campus that, like Montgomery's Parkland, boasts superior technology and advanced science laboratories.
Some sixth-graders were a bit overwhelmed on arrival at a school that was unfamiliar and utterly new.
"I don't know my locker combination, and I don't know where my classes are, but I think I'll figure it out by the end of the day," said Jayoa Bruce, 11, of Waldorf.
Charles administrators said improving academic achievement, particularly in middle schools, is a top priority this year. Superintendent James E. Richmond said it will be a challenge to have all schools meet "adequate yearly progress" under the federal No Child law.
Richmond rode with children on school buses to help set a positive tone.
"Day one is the single biggest experience for children," he said. "The school has got to start on day one like it was always opened, as if it never closed. You can't have kids waiting for schedules or looking for textbooks. It's crucial for the climate of the school."
In Anne Arundel, Superintendent Kevin Maxwell visited Annapolis and Bates middle schools, vexed by low enrollment and defections to private schools. Maxwell led a middle-school summit in October 2006 to plan improvements.
Anne Arundel educators invited sixth- and ninth-graders back a day earlier than their classmates to give them a feel for their schools. Older middle and high school students start classes today.
Several counties are opening new schools: Davis Middle in Charles, Arcola Elementary in Montgomery and Seven Oaks Elementary in Anne Arundel. At Seven Oaks, classes are starting today, a day late, because of construction.
There were reports of scattered problems. A Montgomery school bus engine caught fire en route to Walt Whitman High School in Potomac; no one was injured. At Milton M. Somers Middle School in La Plata, the second floor remained closed because construction crews were replacing the roof. A bus driver for Hillsmere Elementary School in Annapolis misunderstood the schedule for the morning's starting time and showed up late.
And there were the usual first-day jitters.
Outside Anne Arundel's Belle Grove Elementary in Brooklyn Park, a few students lingered with their parents after the 8:30 a.m. bell, too nervous to enter. They included Alexis Young, 8. Her grandmother, Susan Schauster, said Alexis seemed fine until that morning, when she woke up claiming a tummy ache and wishing to stay home.
"That's when I knew she was feeling a little worried about coming back," Schauster said.
A teaching assistant recognized Alexis, welcomed her with a hug and, after some consoling words, coaxed her into her new classroom.
At the end of opening day at Howard's Forest Ridge Elementary School in Laurel, a throng of adults waited anxiously for students to emerge. Five-year-old Naahdia Mundi's grandmother, aunt and mother were all there, hoping her first day of kindergarten went well.
"The whole family came out," said her mother, Angela Mundi, a nurse who rushed from work. The Mundis breathed a collective sigh of relief when they saw Naahdia's big smile.
Songs had been sung, she told them, and pictures drawn. Naahdia had made five new friends.
"I had a good day," she said.
Staff writers Mary Otto, Philip Rucker and William Wan contributed to this report.
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