City Pupils' Scores Rise

Students Throughout Maryland Show Improvement In State Testing

Baltimore Children Outperform Some Suburban Peers In Math, Reading

Baltimore County also saw significant improvement in middle schools, particularly among eighth-graders who had a double-digit increase in reading as well as gains in math. Seventh-graders also increased in math, but there was a small decline among sixth-graders in math.

"I feel real good about what our administrators and our teachers have been able to do," Superintendent Joe A. Hairston said of the district's performance.

The rise in scores meant that 19 schools left a federally mandated list of schools that need improvement. Seven schools in Baltimore came off the list as well as two in Baltimore County and one each in Allegany, Howard and Kent counties.

But 134 Maryland schools did not meet the federal Adequate Yearly Progress standard for the first time, many of them because special education, minority or poor children in that school did not pass the test, officials said.

Baltimore Sun reporters Nicole Fuller, Jonathan Pitts and John-John Williams IV contributed to this article.