Academic Achievement

MY GREAT-grandfather John Wesley Staples (1865-1940) was vain about writing and scribbled even grocery lists theatrically, gesturing grandly with the pencil and pausing between words to lick its point.A fuss over a shopping list seems ridiculous -- until you consider that he was born in the slaveholding South, where educating black people was illegal until after the Civil War, and where aggressively literate blacks were seen as subversive and even dangerous well into this century.Modern writing on the role of race in academic achievement generally discounts this history.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland's political, educational and business leaders vowed yesterday to take whatever steps are necessary to correct the state's continuing gap in academic performance between black students and white students."

Anne Arundel County school board members are considering a policy that would give parents of failing middle school children the chance to appeal principals' decisions to promote their children despite poor academic performance.School principals have the authority to promote sixth-, seventh- or eighth-graders, even if they have failed most of their classes. Parents may appeal such a decision to Superintendent Carol S. Parham through a cumbersome process outlined in state education law.But the policy the board is considering spells out specific procedures in which parents who believe their child should be held back a year because of failing grades can appeal the promotion first to the assistant superintendent of instruction, then to Parham, then to the school board, which would make the final decision.

GLEN BURNIE High School celebrated the accomplishments and the potential of the Class of 1998 at the annual senior awards assembly last week. Students were honored for academic achievements, athletic prowess and commitment to the school and the community.Principal David Hill said Glen Burnie seniors received more than $885,000 in scholarship money and more than $107,385 in grants to continue their education.Here is a list of the students and their awards.Phillip Anderson: second place for Web page design from the Anne Arundel County Media Festival.

CUSTOMER satisfaction is as important for schools as for any enterprise. Howard County schools deserve praise for conducting a new survey that reveals what parents, students and teachers think of the system.Most participants in the survey were satisfied. About 86 percent said Howard schools "promote creativity, responsible risk-taking, cooperation, mutual trust and respect." Shortcomings pointed out by the survey were known. But reiterating these problems should spark efforts to address them.

MIDDLE SCHOOLS in Howard County during the past year took the right approach to an evaluation that sharply criticized weaknesses in this important link between elementary and high school. Far from adopting a defensive crouch, as some had feared, administrators absorbed the criticisms and implemented changes.Some of the fixes reflected common sense. Others were delightfully daring. All are designed to sharpen the focus on academics for sixth, seventh and eight-graders.It was almost a year ago that a committee of parents and two educational consultants completed a two-part report on middle schools.

"YOU CAN'T THROW money at the problem." Politicians who criticize poorly performing school districts love that bromide. As proof, they point to under-funded schools whose students do better than those where per-pupil spending is higher. Yet people who want to spend more on education note the typical affluence of communities with better schools, including the area of Howard County surrounding Centennial High.The median household income for the Centennial ZIP code is $67,802; not only one of the highest income levels in Maryland but one of the highest in the nation.

Inspiring young Cherry Hill girls to get better grades with sports trophies and other athletic rewards has made Dwayne E. White the year's top volunteer in the view of a city agency, Neighbors United.White, 39, executive director of Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, Maryland Chapter, five years ago helped found The Cherry Hill Initiative's girls' fall volleyball league and a winter basketball league."We decided to put more emphasis on academics than sports, use sports to do it and do it for girls -- there was enough sports already for boys," said White, the leagues' commissioner, and coach of the Arundel Elementary School team.

I WAS SURPRISED by the first part of a report on middle schools released last October. The document was a sharp sword that ripped Howard County's middle schools to shreds.Looking over the report almost a year later, I still find it difficult to believe the committee of citizens was talking about this middle school system and not one in an underfunded, undermanned and under-attack urban district.I had three children in a county middle school at the time, and few of the committee's criticisms seemed to apply.

Academic failure begins in students homeArticles and columns in The Sun concerning the inadequacy of the Baltimore City school system place the overwhelming responsibility for the academic failure of the students on the teachers and principals.To be sure, the teachers and principals do bear a degree ofculpability for these shortcomings. However, not one article places the bulk of the responsibility where it irrefutably belongs -- on parents.Baltimore City school attendance is far below that of the counties.

Patricia E. Abernethy, the newest chief academic officer for Baltimore County public schools, is described as a champion for children and an educator with an exceptional understanding of what it takes to boost academic achievement. "She is very student-oriented," said Elizabeth Morgan, superintendent of Washington County public schools. "She really cares about kids and what's best for kids." Abernethy, 61, who most recently served two years as deputy chief of staff for strategic planning and development for Baltimore City public schools, was named chief academic officer of Baltimore County public schools last week.

SOPHIE ALTMAN, 95 Creator of TV's 'It's Academic' Television producer Sophie Altman, who created the long-running quiz show It's Academic, pitting teams of high school students against each other, died of heart disease Saturday at Georgetown University Medical Center, said her daughter, Nancy Altman of Bethesda. Altman was a seasoned TV producer in 1961 when she started It's Academic in the Washington area. The quiz show is entering its 48th season in Washington, and there are local versions in Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and several other cities; at one point more than 20 cities had their own versions.

To push more black male students toward success, Maryland should turn to academic solutions such as single-sex classrooms and street-level fixes such as pairing ex-convicts with young men in the neighborhood, a panel of education experts told the state school board yesterday. A task force of 45 educators, business leaders and union officials met for two years to prepare a report intended to address a persistent problem in academic achievement for black males in the state. "There is a crushing sense of urgency that permeates this report," said Dunbar Brooks, co-chairman of the task force and vice president of the Maryland State Board of Education.

Sean Paul's catchy dancehall-reggae hit "Temperature" rocked the Long Reach High School auditorium yesterday, as two purple spotlights cut through the dimmed room and cheerleaders tossed each other in the air. The student crowd -- many in the school colors of purple and black -- chanted, cheered and screamed. But this was no typical pep rally. The hoopla was in honor of academic achievement and all those present -- 675 of the school's 1,411 -- had earned at least a 3.0 grade point average or improved their grade point average by a half a point in the previous semester.

A commission appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. has come up with some interesting, though hardly new, ideas for improving education in Maryland. Asked to look at issues that affect high academic achievement, the commission has offered 30 recommendations that range from the prosaic, such as more parental and community involvement, to the provocative, such as merit pay for teachers and principals. Mr. Ehrlich has announced a meeting in November with the commission and other interested parties to continue the discussion and to further refine a legislative package that he hopes will pass muster with the General Assembly.

The Anne Arundel County school board yesterday agreed to raise academic goals for minority, low-income and special-education students, settling a federal civil rights complaint filed last year by a group of black community leaders who alleged that African-American children were treated inequitably. County school officials expect to consider revisions next month to the school system's 2007 goals for academic achievement to reflect the agreement, which will affect future budgets and resources.

American households with children have an average of 2.8 televisions. Ninety-seven percent of those households have one or more VCRs or DVD players. Two-thirds have at least one computer. If you think American kids are media-saturated, you're right. But if a new study conducted by the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University is to be believed, it's not the quantity that matters; it's where kids are being saturated. "We looked at the way kids use media and how it related to academic achievement," says Dina Borzekowski, lead author of "The Remote, The Mouse, and the No. 2 Pencil," a research paper on the project that was published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine yesterday.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has announced he will sign an executive order on Monday in Annapolis to create the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. He said he plans to appoint Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele to chair the panel. The purpose of the commission is to examine issues critical to the academic achievement for all students in Maryland, the governor's office said. The commission's inaugural meeting is planned after the signing of the executive order.

Calling Baltimore County's middle schools a "weak link," Superintendent Joe A. Hairston is proposing an overhaul that would toughen instruction for sixth- to eighth-graders and focus their learning on core subjects such as language arts and math. The goal is to improve academic achievement, which test scores indicate drops after pupils leave elementary school. "Middle schools must challenge students to meet higher academic standards, and the curriculum should emphasize a deeper understanding of concepts," said Hairston, who presented the plan to the school board last week.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Democrats lament that the presumptive war with Iraq has kept them from focusing the public's attention on domestic issues. OK, let's talk about one of their favorite domestic issues: education. Most Democratic candidates (and sometimes a few Republicans) promise that if elected, or re-elected, they will fight to spend more money for education. They imply a relationship between increased spending and better academic performance. The public has mostly accepted this line of thinking.