None of the 17 Anne Arundel County middle schools met the 1993 Maryland School Performance Assessment Program standards, and more than half the 76 elementary schools are far from meeting those skill levels, test results released yesterday showed.
Anne Arundel's experience was hardly unique, as few schools in the Baltimore metropolitan area even came close to a "satisfactory" showing in the tests, which are designed to measure how well students can apply their knowledge and how well schools are delivering the skills students will need in the next century.
Yet Anne Arundel school administrators were encouraged that even a small number of elementary schools are either close to meeting the state standards or, in a few cases, have already met them in one or more subjects.
"This is part of a plan to overhaul our curriculum -- to change what we teach and how. It's a slow process," said school spokeswoman Nancy Jane Adams.
"You can't just say to a teacher, 'Here's the goal, now do it.'
"We're planning to provide in-service [staff development] over the next three years" to help improve the test scores, she said.
A list of the county schools that were far from reaching the minimum standards for the revised state test was not available, although school officials provided a list of schools that met or were approaching the standards.
In Baltimore County, nine of 94 elementary schools reached the state standard for satisfactory performance in at least one subject. None of the county's 25 middle schools got a satisfactory score in any area.
In Baltimore City, scores were not broken down by schools, but by students. In all grades and subjects, the majority of students scored at the two lowest levels. More than 91 percent of third-graders taking the test, for example, earned unsatisfactory scores -- Levels 4 and 5. About 8 percent reached Level 3, one-tenth of 1 percent scored at Level 2, and none reached the highest level.
Among other metropolitan Baltimore counties, more than 50 percent of Carroll County students in more than half the system's 19 elementary schools achieved at least satisfactory scores.
In Harford County, none of the seven middle schools reached the state standard in any subject.
Scores for Howard County were not available.
Anne Arundel County officials said that, rather than dwell on the low scores, they were proud that third-graders at Benfield Elementary met standards in math, science and social studies. Reading test results were not measured for third-graders.
