Md. Scores In Reading, Math Show Big Strides

Maryland's march toward the goal of having all students reach grade level in reading and math gained momentum today with the release of test scores that show surprisingly strong gains in those subjects, especially among disadvantaged students.

The results, educators said, inspire fresh hope of closing achievement gaps, a primary focus of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

From 2007 to 2008, the share of students statewide who were judged proficient or better rose six percentage points in reading and four points in math, to 82 percent and 76 percent, respectively, on the Maryland School Assessments. The results in grades 3 through 8 show some of the strongest improvements since the first years of testing under the 2002 federal law and ease doubts across the education community about progress on the exams, which had slowed in recent years.

State School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick attributed the increase in part to a rising culture of "laserlike analysis" of achievement in the public schools, something "that I don't think has ever been done in education before. And I think that's very powerful." This year's gains were hard-won, school leaders said, because they built on several years of previous gains as the difficulty of the state test has remained constant.

Under the federal law, public schools in Maryland and elsewhere are supposed to attain 100 percent proficiency by 2014 for all students tested in reading and math. Since the MSA's debut in 2003, Maryland students have bridged half the distance toward that goal. Reading proficiency has climbed from 61 percent in 2003 to 82 percent this year, while math proficiency has climbed from 53 percent to 76 percent. D.C. officials released scores last week showing sharp gains on the city's test; Virginia's results are due later this summer.

Education scholars cautioned that Maryland's scores might overstate the magnitude of academic progress in the state. On the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federally funded test, 40 percent of fourth-graders rated proficient or better in math and 36 percent in reading. The state's scores on that test, however, have risen in this decade.

"Fact number one is that Maryland sets the bar defining proficiency very close to the ground," said Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. "State officials are under enormous political pressure to show progress." Fuller added, however, that the upward trajectory on both the national and state tests suggests "that kids in Maryland are learning more over the course of the year now than they were in the 1990s."

The rate of growth in Maryland's scores had slowed in recent years after major gains in the first few rounds of testing. Education leaders said the new momentum might be the cumulative result of several years of academic initiatives aimed at improving performance among students who come from low-income homes or are learning English, an effort that has gone hand-in-hand with the federal mandate.

In recent years, there have been sharp increases in the number of reading and math specialists deployed at struggling schools and in programs tailored to identify lagging students and diagnose their deficiencies with ever-increasing precision. Superintendents have experimented with targeted smaller class sizes and expanded pre-kindergarten programs. Grasmick noted that a relatively new statewide curriculum has introduced an unprecedented "state of cohesion" to what is taught in classrooms across city and county lines.

Montgomery County officials have sent central-office specialists, "people who haven't been in schools in years," to struggling schools to help raise achievement, said Frieda Lacey, deputy superintendent. "I think we have gained a lot of credibility with folks down in the trenches."

At Doswell E. Brooks Elementary in Prince George's County, a new faculty member was dispatched last year as a coach in English for Speakers of Other Languages to work with teachers and students. The school also has a new employee who serves as a liaison to the Spanish-speaking community.

Proficiency rates improved by 19 percentage points in reading and 17 points in math this year at the school, rising to 81 percent and 80 percent, respectively.