Eighth Grade

Howard County students again outperformed their peers in Maryland on the state's annual achievement exams for schools, but eighth-grade scores dropped in a majority of subject areas for the second year in a row, county school officials announced yesterday.The overall score for Howard students on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) was slightly better than last year's: 57.9 percent of students achieved a satisfactory or higher on the 1997 tests -- given in the spring -- compared with 56.9 the year before.

Shaine Woodard, a 13-year-old eighth-grader, was ready for the summer and the challenges of high school as he bolted down the halls of Wilde Lake Middle School, but the sights and sounds of 85 staffers, lined up to greet him, slowed his quick strides. The adults - standing on both sides of the school's hallway near the front entrance - whistled, shouted, cheered and clapped as Woodard and 189 other eighth-graders left the building yesterday for the last time. The Wilde Lake Middle School "clap-out" is an annual send off that the staff gives as a final salute to graduating eighth-graders.

This table shows overall 2002 index scores from the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program for Howard County third-, fifth- and eighth-grade pupils. The score is equivalent to the percentage of pupils who scored at a satisfactory level on the MSPAP test. Scores from 2001 are in parenthesis. Third Grade: Reading - 53 percent (60.1) Writing - 55.7 (65.1) Language uses - 58.4 (62.5) Science - 46.9 (54.9) Social studies - 46 (56.1) Mathematics - 44.6 (57.8) Fifth Grade: Reading - 61.4 (66.5)

Ever since the sixth grade, 14-year-old Whitney Wilburn couldn't wait for the end of eighth grade because, as she explains, eighth-graders "always had fun." She was so excited about the year-end class trips to amusement parks that she had already planned what she would wear. But now the end of eighth grade is here, and the fun is not. The administrator overseeing the city's middle schools has issued a directive that all field trips must be educational. So Whitney's school, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle in East Baltimore, has called off long-awaited trips to two amusement parks and a beach -- three months after it started collecting money from kids who planned to go. "I feel like my child is being punished, and you're not saying why," said Whitney's mother, Lisa Wilburn, who had arranged to take a day off work to chaperone the trip to Six Flags America.

Sophomore distance runner Kyle Stanton of Hammond began swimming at the age of 4 and swam competitively with the Columbia Aquatic Association until the eighth grade, when he turned his attention to running. In his second varsity cross country season last fall, Stanton took ninth in the Howard County meet. This spring, he ran his first sub-five-minute mile, clocking in at 4 minutes, 56 seconds in a distance medley relay, and he enjoyed his best two-mile time (10:49) to win a tri-meet against Mount Hebron and Marriotts Ridge.

There's a lot of good news in the results of this year's state assessment tests. Some gains were scored in all 24 districts, and it's especially noteworthy that minority students are closing the achievement gap, a key goal of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Students with disabilities are making similar progress. Baltimore, which is constantly bringing up the rear among the state's school districts, showed improvements in nearly every tested grade. But while the city and the state are moving in the right direction, there are still gaps that need to be addressed.

O'Malley takes oath as governor Martin O'Malley was sworn in as the state's 61st governor. He promised "a new day in Maryland" marked by bipartisan respect and a fresh resolve to improve the lives of state residents. Dixon sworn in as mayor Pledging to deliver a more cohesive government to City Hall and cleaner streets to city neighborhoods, Sheila Dixon was formally sworn in as Baltimore's 48th mayor in an inauguration that celebrated recent progress but repeatedly acknowledged the daunting challenges ahead.

Your child has a hand up to answer the teacher's question, but the teacher calls on Andrew instead. Calls on him to sit down. To pay attention. To stop bothering his neighbor. Does Andrew have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? No. Is he a natural-born troublemaker? No. He is hungry. He didn't have breakfast, so he's having a hard time paying attention. Based on his family's income, Andrew qualifies for free breakfast and lunch at the school. But his mother didn't apply. Why? Maybe she couldn't read the application forms.

Maryland's middle schools are marked -- for change and achievement.Prompted by flat middle school test scores and growing complaints that they are academic wastelands, a state task force will make preliminary recommendations later this month to shift the focus of the state's middle schools to more academics.Middle schools once aimed to help pupils feel good about themselves in early adolescence, but many educators now believe that isn't enough. "We've made these schools friendlier; now we need to make them high-performing," said Douglas MacIver, who has been studying middle schools and their pupils since 1980.

SCHOOLS are a business, an economic enterprise that generates money spent in the community. Be they public or private, schools and their employees add to the economy.That's the basis for the city of Westminster's decision to authorize $1 million in economic development revenue bonds for a private Montessori school to be built on 27 hilltop acres off Route 140 northwest of the city limits.The new 12,000-square-foot campus for the 25-year-old institution will hold 130 pupils (preschool through eighth grade)

River Hill senior Scott Trench is what his wrestling coach Brandon Lauer calls "a throwback" - a high school athlete who excels not at one or even two sports, but three. "It's hard to excel at the highest level nowadays in three different varsity sports," Lauer said. "But Scott brings a tremendous work ethic. You know you can rely on him to work hard, and that's why he succeeds in athletics and academics." Trench, 18 with a 3.9 grade-point average, was the kicker and tight end for the Hawks' football team that won the state Class 2A championship; he wrestled in the 171-pound weight class and finished this season as the state runner-up; and now he heads into the lacrosse season where he is the Hawks faceoff man. "He's a guy I'm going to talk to my teams about for years," Lauer said.

Broadneck's Morgan O'Brien is a coaches' All-County senior defender and is set to play lacrosse at the Naval Academy. A two-year starter, O'Brien received an appointment to Navy in October, contingent on her attending Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, R.I., for a year. With a 3.5 grade point average and an SAT score of 1,500, O'Brien plans to get into the medical field. O'Brien is one of five team captains on the Bruins and relishes her role as a defender. Bruins coach Karen Tengwall said defenders such as O'Brien don't get enough credit for a team's success.

About one-third of America's eighth-grade students, and about one in four high school seniors, are proficient writers, according to results of a nationwide test released yesterday. The test, administered last year, showed that there were modest increases in the writing skills of low-performing students since the last time a similar exam was given, in 2002. But the skills of high-performing eighth- and 12th-graders remained flat or declined. Girls far outperformed boys in the test, with 41 percent of eighth-grade girls scoring at or above the proficient level, compared with 20 percent of eighth-grade boys.

Your child has a hand up to answer the teacher's question, but the teacher calls on Andrew instead. Calls on him to sit down. To pay attention. To stop bothering his neighbor. Does Andrew have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder? No. Is he a natural-born troublemaker? No. He is hungry. He didn't have breakfast, so he's having a hard time paying attention. Based on his family's income, Andrew qualifies for free breakfast and lunch at the school. But his mother didn't apply. Why? Maybe she couldn't read the application forms.

There's a lot of good news in the results of this year's state assessment tests. Some gains were scored in all 24 districts, and it's especially noteworthy that minority students are closing the achievement gap, a key goal of the federal No Child Left Behind law. Students with disabilities are making similar progress. Baltimore, which is constantly bringing up the rear among the state's school districts, showed improvements in nearly every tested grade. But while the city and the state are moving in the right direction, there are still gaps that need to be addressed.

Century High School student Kristen Rogers recently won a logo contest sponsored by the Maryland Association of Boards of Education. The theme of the conference -- "Leading for Tomorrow: Preparing Students for the Cyber Future" -- is included in the design. Rogers' logo could appear on tote bags, stationery and the conference brochure. She will receive a $100 savings bond and a certificate from the association. Earth science teacher honored Linda Murphy, an eighth grade earth science teacher at Sykesville Middle School, has received the Outstanding Earth Science Teacher Award from the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

Ever since the sixth grade, 14-year-old Whitney Wilburn couldn't wait for the end of eighth grade because, as she explains, eighth-graders "always had fun." She was so excited about the year-end class trips to amusement parks that she had already planned what she would wear. But now the end of eighth grade is here, and the fun is not. The administrator overseeing the city's middle schools has issued a directive that all field trips must be educational. So Whitney's school, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle in East Baltimore, has called off long-awaited trips to two amusement parks and a beach -- three months after it started collecting money from kids who planned to go. "I feel like my child is being punished, and you're not saying why," said Whitney's mother, Lisa Wilburn, who had arranged to take a day off work to chaperone the trip to Six Flags America.

The time, officially, to get from Houtzdale, Pa., to Maple Lawn is just four hours and change. But it took Paul Swidersky six decades. That he made it at all from the poor coal town in central Pennsylvania to luxurious Maple Lawn in Fulton, though, is remarkable. But his improbable journey was not achieved without risks, setbacks and luck. Perhaps more than anything, it was sheer determination that permitted Swidersky to escape the poverty and doubtful future of his hometown to end up with a multimillion-dollar business and expansive offices in one of the most fashionable destinations in Maryland.

Thank you, Baltimore Catechism, for a bonus that had nothing to do with theology. You taught me how to memorize. While hardly a ticket to heaven, the Baltimore Catechism was a hot-seller during early years of my education. This textbook of Roman Catholic belief was recognized this week by one of its publishers at a religious educators' conference held in the city. That little volume deserved the applause. On the first day of first grade in September 1956, Sister Mary Agnes launched the questions and answers this little blue paperback posed.

Sophomore distance runner Kyle Stanton of Hammond began swimming at the age of 4 and swam competitively with the Columbia Aquatic Association until the eighth grade, when he turned his attention to running. In his second varsity cross country season last fall, Stanton took ninth in the Howard County meet. This spring, he ran his first sub-five-minute mile, clocking in at 4 minutes, 56 seconds in a distance medley relay, and he enjoyed his best two-mile time (10:49) to win a tri-meet against Mount Hebron and Marriotts Ridge.