WASHINGTON – Baltimore schools showed improvement in Maryland School Assessment scores but they still trail state scores, according to a report released Tuesday by the Council of Great City Schools.
At every level for both math and reading, the percentage of Baltimore students getting passing marks has been less-than-statewide percentages.
For example, a little more than half of Maryland eighth-graders were considered at least proficient at math in 2005, while only 20 percent of Baltimore eighth-graders were.
Not only are Baltimore schools not matching state numbers, but they are also showing negligible gains and even losing percentage points at the higher grade levels, the report noted.
“They’ve got a long, long way to go at the middle- and high-school levels,” the council’s Executive Director Michael Casserly explained. But, he added that “it’s hard to make gains at those levels unless you are making progress at the elementary grades.”
The council that produced the study represents 66 of the country’s urban school systems and works to promote public education in cities. While “Beating the Odds VI” includes data for the other 65 school systems, Baltimore’s scores cannot be compared to other cities because the MSA assessments are state-specific.
The report tracks each city’s scores against its state standards and, if available, National Assessment of Education Progress data. For Baltimore, the report records the percentage of Baltimore students scoring at or above proficient levels on MSA tests across three years. However, only the 2004 and 2005 years had complete data for grades three through eight.
According to the report, Baltimore has seen the greatest improvement in reading at the elementary level, with third- and fifth-grade students showing bigger jumps in percentage points in Baltimore than at the state level.
“It is a district that has made some pretty substantial improvements over the last several years, but it still finds itself in district improvement status. It has a lot of schools that the state has taken greater control of,” Casserly said. “They are a district we wouldn’t mind intervening with.”
If the city consented, that intervention could come in the form of curriculum evaluation, comparing city requirements against state standards and looking at professional development for teachers, he explained.
Monty Neill, executive director of the national advocacy organization Fair Test, cautioned that testing data alone cannot paint an accurate picture of what is happening in schools.
“Tests provide insufficient information,” Neill said. “Inner-city students are typically poorer, which means that they typically have less access to learn the things that schools test them on.”
To get a better understanding of how schools in urban areas are doing, there needs to be analysis of dropout rates, graduation rates and curriculum study, he said.
Casserly agreed that inner-city schools face different obstacles than their suburban and rural counterparts, but said he was encouraged by the testing results nonetheless.
“(Urban schools) always have challenges with crime, family dysfunction, poverty, drugs and all of those things that other school districts do not have to deal with. But more and more these cities are finding ways to keep these kids engaged,” he said.
Maryland State Department of Education and Baltimore City School representatives could not be reached for comment.
As of Jan. 31, 2006, there were 65 Baltimore elementary and middle schools flagged for improvement or undergoing improvements because they failed to meet the state’s annual measurable objectives.
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