By Daniel de Vise and Nelson Hernandez
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 15, 2008; A01

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.

"We knew that we had done better, but we were really surprised at the numbers," Principal Anita Stoddard said. "You say to yourself, 'The hard work paid off.' "

Scores improved markedly in both Montgomery and Prince George's counties, the two largest school systems in the state, with the lion's share of gains coming from poor and language-minority students.

In Prince George's, countywide proficiency rose seven points in reading and five points in math, to a respective 71 percent and 64 percent. In a school system where the large majority of students come from low-income homes, scores rose at every grade level tested and in each of eight demographic "subgroups" measured by federal law. Proficiency rose so dramatically among students of limited English proficiency -- reading proficiency was up nine points -- that Superintendent John E. Deasy asked data analysts to double-check the numbers.

"The rate of improvement was great for all but particularly stunning for English language learners, youth in poverty and youth in special education," Deasy said. "This is how you close gaps."

Proficiency rates in Montgomery rose from 83 percent to 88 percent in reading and from 79 percent to 82 percent in math. There, too, disadvantaged students figured prominently in the gains. Reading proficiency rose sharply for special-ed students and for those with limited English proficiency.

Officials cited the new scores as fresh evidence that the performance gap between more- and less-affluent students is closing, at least on the statewide exam.

Montgomery officials reported that gaps among the four largest racial and ethnic groups have narrowed in reading and math in every grade level tested since 2003.

In third-grade reading, for example, Hispanic students' proficiency rose from 40 percent in 2003 to 76 percent this year, while white students' proficiency climbed from 83 percent to 95 percent. The gap separating the two groups has narrowed from 43 points to 19.