Required 'Yearly Progress' Difficult to Determine

5 High Schools Fail to Make the Grade Due to Scores of Students in Special Ed and of Limited English

Five of 24 high schools in Montgomery County failed to make adequate progress this year under the education law No Child Left Behind, but only one, Montgomery Blair in Silver Spring, is considered a repeat offender under the state and federal accountability system.

The five -- Blair, Einstein in Kensington, Sherwood in Sandy Spring, Springbrook in Silver Spring and Watkins Mill in Gaithersburg -- missed their targets because of low test scores in English among 10th-grade students in at least one of two demographic subgroups: students of limited English proficiency and in special education. At Springbrook and Watkins Mill, special education students also scored poorly in an assessment of high school algebra.

More than 70 percent of Maryland high schools met improvement targets for 2007, state education officials announced last week. The targets largely are based on pass rates on two of the four High School Assessments given annually in the 10th grade. On one of the tests, English 2, the pass rate has risen from 57 to 71 percent in three years of testing. On the other, algebra, pass rates stagnated in the 50 percent range for four years but have exceeded 60 percent in 2006 and 2007.

Education leaders attribute the rising pass rates largely to the state's new requirement, starting with the class of 2009, that seniors pass the tests to graduate.

"Students are taking the High School Assessments seriously, and that has paid off for everyone," Nancy S. Grasmick, state superintendent of schools, said in a statement. "Targets rise every year, making the process that much tougher."

To make adequate progress and keep apace of the education law this year, a school had to post 52 percent proficiency in English and 39 percent proficiency in algebra. Elementary and middle schools must meet similar targets on a different test, the Maryland School Assessment. Students in each of several demographic subgroups must meet the same targets as the school as a whole. Even middle-class suburban schools with high test scores overall have been hard-pressed to meet their targets in such areas as special education and with students of limited English proficiency.

But because of inconsistent results from school to school, the number of Montgomery County elementary, middle and high schools on the state watch list actually increased this year, from 13 to 18.

Only one county school on the watch list, Shady Grove Middle, made its targets for a second consecutive year and was able to be taken off the list. Ten schools that made their targets this year remain on the list and must meet their targets again next year to be removed. Several other schools landed on the list for the first time.

At Blair, 15 of 73 students identified for limited English proficiency, or about 20 percent, passed the assessment of English. Blair has missed its performance targets for three years and is in the second year of a state-imposed School Improvement process, which kicks in after two years of missed goals. Blair is the only high school in the county on the School Improvement list. After several years of inadequate progress, the school might face a last-ditch remedial sanction such as replacement of staff members.

That no other Montgomery high school sits on the state watch list underscores the inconsistency of results across the 24 county schools on the statewide tests. Last year, four high schools -- Magruder, Blair, Northwest and Quince Orchard -- failed to make adequate progress, in every case because of poor reading performance among special education students. This year, all of those schools except Blair met their targets, but four other schools missed theirs.

At Einstein, for example, 13 of 45 special education students passed the English test, as did 25 of 72 students of limited English proficiency. At Springbrook, eight of 46 special education students passed the algebra test.

If Einstein, Sherwood, Springbrook or Watkins Mill fails to make adequate progress again next year, the school will enter Maryland's School Improvement process alongside Blair. Because targets must be met for two consecutive years to exit the watch list, Blair will remain on it at least until 2009.

In Maryland, the number of high schools on the watch list dipped from 63 to 57 this year. The number of elementary and middle schools on the list rose from 167 to 176. Progress reports for elementary and middle schools were released during the summer.

Montgomery educators didn't publish a news release on the high school results. Upon release of the elementary and middle grades data in August, school officials noted substantial improvement in reaching performance targets, particularly among middle schools. Twenty-seven of 38 middle schools made adequate progress, up from 15 last year, as did 124 of 129 elementary schools, up from 116 last year.

"We are extremely pleased with the growth in performance at the middle school level this year and the extraordinary performance of our elementary schools," Montgomery School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said in a statement at the time.