CLARIFICATION
In a table in yesterday's editions showing the percentage of students who passed Maryland's High School Assessment in algebra, the totals for the state and each school system appeared higher than the scores for individual high schools would indicate. The reason is that the totals included the results not just for high schools, but for middle school students who took the test. Those who take the algebra test in middle school tend to have higher pass rates because they include the most advanced math students, school officials say.
More than 70 percent of last year's ninth-graders who took state proficiency tests in algebra, government and biology have passed the exams - results state officials said mean most other members of the Class of 2009 should be able to pass the tests, as required, before they graduate.
Across the state, the pass rates for last year rose in every county and in Baltimore City - in some cases significantly. In Baltimore County, the percentage of students passing the tests was up at least 10 points in all three subjects. In the city, the percentage of students passing algebra was up 15 points.
"We are feeling very, very good about these results," said Ronald Peiffer, a deputy state superintendent.
The state began giving the tests in 2000, but made passing them a condition of graduation starting in 2009. The specter of tens of thousands of seniors in the Class of 2009 being prevented from graduating had haunted state education officials.
For the past few years, the pass rates hovered around 50 percent and less in some systems, but the students taking the tests knew that they didn't count. The results would get better, state officials predicted, when members of the Class of 2009 - last year's ninth-graders - began taking the tests. That is just what happened.
Students can retake a test many times if they failed it. The state predicts about half the students who retake the test next year will pass.
Statewide, the pass rate increased to 67 percent for algebra, 68 percent for biology and 74 percent for government. Those results include not just the ninth-graders but some students in upper grades who also took the tests, though their scores won't count on their records. Results of the English II test will be released later.
