State: Two More Schools Miss Mark

From the Flier:

Six of the 58 Howard County public elementary and middle schools failed to meet the state’s standards for annual improvement based on their Maryland State Assessment scores, according to data released Tuesday.

Last year, four county schools did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress, a standard set by the state that is raised each year.

Despite the slight increase in schools missing the mark, Jose Stevenson, the school system’s director of Student Assessment and Program Evaluation, said the numbers are encouraging.

“When you get to a higher level of performance, the increments of progress get smaller, and it’s not unusual for the numbers to dip slightly,” he said.
 
Noteworthy in the assessment data is the fact that in the past few years, elementary schools have increasingly had groups of students receive a 100 percent pass rate. This year, 10 schools had at least one instance in which an entire grade level of students passed an assessment in reading or math. There were nine schools in 2009 and six schools in 2008 that had perfect pass rates.

The schools that did not meet the 2010 progress standard are Jeffers Hill and  Veterans elementary schools, and Mayfield Woods, Murray Hill, Oakland Mills and Wilde Lake middle schools.
 
County school officials are planning to dedicate extra support to those schools, according to Terry Alban, the school system’s chief operating officer.

Those six schools all reached the 2009 state standard, but Oakland Mills Middle missed the mark in 2007 and 2008. Because it did not reach the standard for two consecutive years, Oakland Mills was placed on a list of schools the Maryland State Department of Education deems in need of improvement. It will remain on the list until it meets the standard in consecutive years.