Dropout Rate

According to the fifth annual Maryland School Performance Program Report released last month by the state Department of Education, Anne Arundel County schools are doing fairly well. Overall, the county met 11 of 13 standards established by the Board of Education, and students made significant gains in their scores on reading, math and citizenship tests.But there were two failing grades on Anne Arundel's report card: attendance in grades seven through 12 is too low and the high school dropout rate is too high.

Too many students are dropping out of Anne Arundel County schools, and not enough are passing a fairly new test designed to measure thinking and problem-solving skills, according to state Department of Education figures released yesterday.The state "report card" examines all aspects of education in Maryland's 24 school districts, including attendance, dropout rates, the number of students who pass, and how well students do on four tests that measure their knowledge of reading, writing, math and citizenship.

Maryland public schools received higher marks in the state's fourth annual report card yesterday, but most still fall short of ambitious state standards.The results -- based on state tests, promotion and dropout rates, and attendance -- form the basis for the Maryland School Performance Program, designed to hold schools more accountable for classroom results.In the metropolitan area, only Howard County met all 13 state standards, while the city of Baltimore fell short in all but two areas.

Carroll Commissioner Julia W. Gouge will go to San Francisco next month to talk to county officials from throughout the country about Carroll programs that aim to keep students in school.Mrs. Gouge will speak at the National Association of Counties' annual conference on employment policy and human services Nov. 19-22.She is a member of NACo's employment committee and chairs a subcommittee on "school-to-work" programs.About 700 people are expected to attend the conference at the San Francisco Hilton and Towers, NACo Public Affairs Director Tom Goodman said.

Harford's 47 public schools got a positive report card from the state last week, meeting 11 of the 13 criteria in the 1993 Maryland School Performance Program.The results were the county's best performance since the standards were set four years ago.The school system fell short in two areas -- attendance for students in seventh through 12th grades and the dropout rate.School Superintendent Ray R. Keech was not disappointed, though."The school system is moving in the right direction," he said, adding that he is "flat out encouraged by the results."

Annapolis High School has the worst dropout rate among Anne Arundel County's 12 high schools, according to a state report card issued this week. But Principal Laura Webb says the numbers don't reflect economics or recent progress."

The two of them, standing by the bus stop on North Avenue near Charles, are sharing a package of gooey cupcakes guaranteed to produce cholesterol levels which could stop the heart of a rhino."

Over the years, lots of problems in lots of communities have been blamed on "outside troublemakers," but the Baltimore City schools have come up with a bizarre new addition to the list: High school dropouts from outside the city have been moving in, a school department spokesman suggests, giving Baltimore an inflated dropout rate in a Census Bureau study.Hey, come on. You're telling us the city dropout rate is not really bad, it just seems bad because dropouts from the suburbs are streaming in?

Baltimore has been proclaimed tops in the nation recently -- for all the wrong reasons.* The National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) reported that 56 percent of black men in the city between the ages of 18 and 35 were either in prison, on parole or probation, being sought on arrest warrants or awaiting trial on an average day in 1991. That was worse than the other city studied to date, Washington, D.C., where 42 percent of young black men were caught in the criminal justice web on a given day. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke expressed shock that Baltimore's problem outdid Washington's, but a survey by his own staff confirmed the study.

Maryland public schools received slightly better grades on their third annual report card yesterday. But most still don't meet state standards for performance on math and citizenship tests, high school attendance and the dropout rate."

The Howard County School System and an advocacy group that focuses on Hispanic student achievement plan to renew a partnership Friday with the hopes of lowering dropout rates and encouraging academic success. The school system and Conexiones will officially sign the partnership at Long Reach High School in Columbia. "The Hispanic population throughout the county has been increasing - we want to make sure that we have an open, welcoming environment for Hispanic students," said Superintendent Sydney L. Cousin.

Maryland's dropout rate declined by about half a percentage point in the past year to the lowest rate in recent years, although state officials say the decrease may have been the result of better data collection rather than a change in the numbers of students leaving school. This past year, 2.8 percent of students in Maryland high schools dropped out, down from 3.7 percent in 2005. There was a 2 percentage-point decline for African-Americans in the same period, the greatest decline among racial groups.

CHICAGO -- In a last-ditch effort to strengthen the No Child Left Behind law, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it will require schools to make sure that low-income and minority students graduate from high school at the same rate as their white and more affluent counterparts. Schools that fail to meet those goals would face sanctions, according to a wide-ranging plan unveiled by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Currently, the law requires that schools meet a graduation target for the entire senior class.

The disparity in graduation rates between Baltimore and its suburbs is the most extreme in the nation, according to a report scheduled to be released today by America's Promise Alliance. Slightly more than a third of students in Baltimore schools graduate from high school, compared with 82 percent of students in the surrounding counties, according to the report. That difference is the greatest for any city in the nation, the report says. Baltimore's suburban counties have graduation rates well above the national average, and the city has the fourth-lowest rate, the group found.

CATHERINE PUGH had a privileged childhood. Growing up in a tough neighborhood on the west side of Philadelphia, the future Baltimore City Council member had a mother who taught reading and writing and discipline to her seven children, a father who worked every day in a rubber plant, and a Santa Claus who showed up at midnight every Christmas Eve. Pugh says she believed in Santa until she was 12 years old. This makes her a late bloomer and, at heart, an...

According to the fifth annual Maryland School Performance Program Report released last month by the state Department of Education, Anne Arundel County schools are doing fairly well. Overall, the county met 11 of 13 standards established by the Board of Education, and students made significant gains in their scores on reading, math and citizenship tests.But there were two failing grades on Anne Arundel's report card: attendance in grades seven through 12 is too low and the high school dropout rate is too high.

Too many students are dropping out of Anne Arundel County schools, and not enough are passing a fairly new test designed to measure thinking and problem-solving skills, according to state Department of Education figures released yesterday.The state "report card" examines all aspects of education in Maryland's 24 school districts, including attendance, dropout rates, the number of students who pass, and how well students do on four tests that measure their knowledge of reading, writing, math and citizenship.

Harford's 47 public schools got a positive report card from the state last week, meeting 11 of the 13 criteria in the 1993 Maryland School Performance Program.The results were the county's best performance since the standards were set four years ago.The school system fell short in two areas -- attendance for students in seventh through 12th grades and the dropout rate.School Superintendent Ray R. Keech was not disappointed, though."The school system is moving in the right direction," he said, adding that he is "flat out encouraged by the results."

Annapolis High School has the worst dropout rate among Anne Arundel County's 12 high schools, according to a state report card issued this week. But Principal Laura Webb says the numbers don't reflect economics or recent progress."

Maryland public schools received higher marks in the state's fourth annual report card yesterday, but most still fall short of ambitious state standards.The results -- based on state tests, promotion and dropout rates, and attendance -- form the basis for the Maryland School Performance Program, designed to hold schools more accountable for classroom results.In the metropolitan area, only Howard County met all 13 state standards, while the city of Baltimore fell short in all but two areas.