By Lisa Frazier
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 10, 1998; Page M1

Prince George's County school officials are celebrating a gain of nearly three points on Maryland's annual assessment test this year, the system's largest overall increase in three years.

The test results, released Tuesday, show that 32.1 percent of the county's third-, fifth- and eighth-graders scored "satisfactory" on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), up from 29.5 percent last year and 21.5 percent in 1993, when the test began.

The upswing in scores was not enough to lift Prince George's from its rank as second from the bottom among the state's 24 districts, but it brought good news to a system that has struggled to boost academic achievement.

"The improvement in the 1998 MSPAP scores is a reflection of the successes made within the classrooms by teachers and students," Superintendent Jerome Clark said. "We must continue to challenge our students through rigorous classroom instruction."

The MSPAP exam was considered an innovation in academic testing when it was launched five years ago. Designed to push students to improve their problem-solving abilities and thinking skills, the test does not rely on the standard multiple-choice format. Instead, students write short essays, perform science experiments and even build projects, sometimes working in groups.

Students are tested in reading, writing, language usage, mathematics, science and social studies. The state's goal is that by 2000, 70 percent of third-, fifth- and eighth-graders at all Maryland elementary and middle schools meet the "satisfactory" mark. The number of Prince George's schools approaching that standard – meaning they have a composite score of 50 percent or better – jumped significantly from 39 schools last year to 55 schools this year.

"I'm very pleased about our test scores," said Board of Education Chairman Alvin Thornton, who was reelected to a second term as chairman Monday night. "I think this is the best news in town. People have to be pleased with the performance."

The state rewards schools for outstanding performance on the test, and those with consistently low performance face the threat of a possible state takeover. Last January, the state identified nine Prince George's schools as at risk for state intervention and ordered immediate improvements. Seven of those nine schools showed gains over last year.

At Nicholas Orem Middle School in Hyattsville, which is on the state's list, Principal Sinie Evans and her staff met in the media center Tuesday morning for a breakfast of quiche, muffins and juice to mark their accomplishments. The dance hit "Celebration" played on a tape recorder as Evans displayed the scores on an overhead projector: increases in every subject area by at least 10 percentage points and in some by as much as 19 percentage points.

The school's overall score jumped from 19.3 percent of students scoring satisfactory last year to 32.4 percent this year.

"I am just elated for the students, staff and community that we have made such progress," Evans said. "We don't take it as a bench mark to slow down or feel as though we have arrived at the state's standard because we have not. But it is such significant progress we want to celebrate."

Evans praised her staff, which she described as "hard-working and energetic," and she gave much credit to Betty Cooper, the instructional coordinator hired last school year to focus on raising academic performance. Cooper, who retired in June, planned in-service training for teachers and worked to develop activities to prepare students for last spring's MSPAP.

The six other state-targeted schools whose scores went up are Beacon Heights, Overlook and Seabrook elementary schools and Charles Carroll, Stephen Decatur and G. Gardner Shugart middle schools. Scores at the other two, Lyndon Hill Elementary and Thurgood Marshall Middle School, went down.

The news was not quite as promising for the six "21st Century Schools," which Clark reorganized in 1997 based on their low performance. Of those, only Riverdale and Ridgecrest elementary schools showed improvement from last year. Performance declined at Thomas Stone and Glassmanor elementary schools and Benjamin Stoddert and Drew Freeman middle schools.

Under the reorganization, the principals were replaced at all but one school, and staff members were forced to reapply for their jobs. But many teachers fled, angry and disgruntled, in most cases leaving more inexperienced staffs.

Fifteen of 16 elementary and middle schools that Clark put on notice about the same time also recorded gains.

Leroy Thompkins, chief divisional administrator for instruction, said the scores show incremental improvements that are quite encouraging. For example, 22 schools this year – compared with 35 last year – are considered "far from standard" because their composite score is less than 10 percent. The elementary schools considered "far from standard," based on their composite score and attendance data, shrunk from 21 schools last year to nine this year.

In the first three years of the MSPAP, Prince George's scores increased steadily, with the biggest jump of 5.7 percentage points in 1995. The scores dipped slightly in 1996 and 1997.

For the system to continue to improve, it must be able to pay teachers more, upgrade technology and reduce class size, board Chairman Thornton said. But for now, he said, celebration is in order.

"Poverty is going up, schools are overcrowded, teachers are underpaid, yet we're still making progress," Thornton said. "You've got to give somebody some credit. I applaud our staff."