Worcester students achieve high marks on state assessments

(July 23, 2010) Worcester County students continue to meet or exceed state standards in the elementary and middle school grades.

On Tuesday, the state released the results of the Maryland State Assessment tests taken by all students in third through eighth grade. Worcester County public school students fared well in nearly all areas and grade levels.

The MSA tests students in reading and mathematics skills and are designed to calculate how many students are meeting the objectives of the No Child Left Behind policy that mandates that all students be 100 percent proficient in both reading and math by 2014

Results of the similar High School Assessment tests will be released in August.

On the MSA reading tests, Worcester County students scored well above the state’s objective in all grade levels. The tests determine the number of students that score as advanced, proficient or basic, and the advanced and proficient students are tallied to get the proficiency rate.

In reading, every grade level had a proficiency grade of at least 90 percent. The highest rate was achieved by the third graders, with a 93.3 percent proficiency rate. The third, sixth and seventh graders saw improved scores from last year, while the scores of the other grades declined slightly.

On the math tests, five of the six grade levels tested saw an improvement over the 2009 scores and all placed well above the objective levels. The lowest score came from the fifth graders, though the grade still had an 85.2 percent proficiency rate.

“We continue to score very high,” Superintendent Dr. Jon Andes said. “We continue to be at the top.”

The state also breaks down the scores by racial and special needs student subgroups. In Worcester County, the African-American and special education students have made significant gains but continue to face the largest uphill battle.

“Special education is an area where we believe we didn’t make the Annual Yearly Progress. That’s one of the challenges for our school system,” Andes said.

Among elementary school students in third through fifth grades, all subgroups except special education students met the state’s proficiency objectives of 81.2 percent in reading and 79.4 percent in math. As a group, those students scored 66.9 percent in reading and 65.7 percent in math.

Andes said the special education students are somewhat of a paradox: a student must be at least two grade levels behind to be qualified as a special ed student, yet they are required to perform at or above grade level.

At the middle school level, the school system’s challenges are the special education and African-American students since those groups scored below the state objective in both reading and math.

“Accelerating the achievement of all students and eliminating achievement gaps continue to be top priorities for our school system,” Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. John Gaddis said.

African-American students have made significant progress in the past few years. Since 2004, the African-American students have increased their reading proficiency rate by 27.3 percent and their math proficiency rate by 36.1 percent.

Most school systems in Maryland faced difficulties ensuring students received enough instruction this past year thanks to weather closures and days missed due to the H1N1 flu outbreak. The state would not push back the March testing date, and 10 days’ worth of snow days severely cut into the available time for teaching.

“It was a huge challenge,” said John Gaddis, who was the principal of Berlin Intermediate School during the school year.