Scores on Maryland's high school end-of-course tests increased significantly this year, pleasing officials who had predicted a spike in performance once the exams were linked to graduation.
Students in 20 of the state's 24 districts improved scores on all four of the tests in English, biology, government and algebra. Nevertheless, four in 10 Maryland students failed the exams - which will be required for graduation with the class of 2009.
Fifty-three percent of the state's high school students passed the English test, a surge of 13 percentage points over 2003. Statewide scores improved by five or six percentage points on the other three exams.
"I'm obviously elated," said state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, "and I think we'll see another spike next year," when the tests will count for freshmen.
But, she added: "If 60 percent are passing, 40 percent are failing, and we can't be proud of that statistic." The superintendent said some districts are lagging in the teaching of ninth-grade algebra.
In June, the State Board of Education made passing the tests a requirement for graduation, effective with this year's eighth-graders. The 2004 tests were given before that action, and most of those who took the tests won't have to pass to earn a diploma. "But the word is out," said Gary Heath, the state testing chief. "What I hear in the schools is that everyone is taking the tests more seriously."
Polytechnic Institute, one of Baltimore's selective citywide high schools, had the highest percentage of students in Maryland passing the four tests. For instance, 99.6 percent of its students passed the government exam; 94 percent passed biology.
Walt Whitman High in Montgomery, Eastern Technology High in Baltimore County, City College in Baltimore and River Hill High in Howard County were not far behind.
Students have at least four chances a year to retake the High School Assessments.
The state also released first-year Maryland School Assessment scores for grades four, six and seven, and 10th grade geometry, completing the seven-grade array of testing required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Among metropolitan area districts, Howard County students had the highest scores on the MSA and Baltimore had the lowest, although a few of the semiautonomous "new schools" in the city, such as the KIPP Ujima Village and Midtown academies and The ConneXions, scored well on the tests.
