Maryland State Department

A former Miss Maryland and spokeswoman for state agencies is the new special assistant to County Executive John R. Leopold, with her responsibilities including communications, media and policy, he announced yesterday. Marina Harrison, 26, began her job Monday. She will represent Leopold in the community and produce the weekly TV show Anne Arundel County Week in Review on public access Channel 98. Her salary is $70,000. A 1999 graduate of Meade High School, she served as the student member of the school board her senior year, and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park.

This table shows the percentage of Carroll County third-graders in each school who scored at a satisfactory level each year on reading tests administered under the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. The last column shows the percentage point improvement since test results were first recorded 1994.'99 '98 '97 '96 '95 '94 Chg.Maryland 41.2 41.6 36.8 35.3 34.0 30.6 10.6Countywide 49.4 52.0 49.7 46.7 41.4 42.2 7.2Carrolltowne 60.3 56.6 50.4 61.5 50.9 65.3 -5.0Charles Carroll 47.8 56.1 29.3 42.5 30.2 29.7 18.1Eldersburg 50.5 43.7 47.5 43.9 39.6 47.3 3.2Elmer A. Wolfe 47.9 49.4 40.5 34.2 28.6 29.7 18.2Freedom District 45.2 59.9 57.5 41.7 41.3 47.3 -2.1Friendship Valley 56.4 63.4 54.5 47.6 41.1 42.6 13.8Hampstead 59.5 49.0 57.8 38.5 45.6 45.7 13.8Linton Springs 36.5 NA NA NA NA NA NAManchester 54.9 42.1 43.4 43.0 34.8 41.6 13.3Mechanicsville 55.3 56.8 61.5 56.0 50.0 56.5 -1.2Mount Airy 50.0 55.6 60.6 58.3 54.7 41.2 8.8Piney Ridge 55.6 50.0 53.7 48.0 31.1 37.2 18.4Robert Moton 48.2 52.3 48.5 43.2 36.6 41.1 7.1Runnymede 31.3 53.3 55.0 25.6 30.5 23.1 8.2Sandymount 50.6 45.1 46.9 64.3 41.9 44.8 5.8Spring Garden 55.9 57.1 47.3 59.6 47.0 40.9 15.0Taneytown 40.7 52.4 42.9 26.7 46.3 37.3 3.4Westminster 46.1 50.0 41.5 47.1 44.7 45.5 0.6Winfield 53.3 48.7 62.5 51.7 46.8 45.9 7.4Wm.

THE MARYLAND State Department of Education put a positive spin on the nervously awaited school performance test scores released Tuesday. After all, results of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) show student performance in grades three, five and eight improved statewide for the fifth year in a row. That means performance has climbed more than 12 percentage points since the first test results were released.Among the bright spots: At Van Bokkelen Elementary, in Anne Arundel County, students performing at satisfactory levels jumped from 8 percent in 1995 to 19 percent.

Also in yesterday's Maryland section, an article incorrectly named one of the technology partners with the Maryland State Department of Education. AT&T Corp. is participating in the effort to provide a Web site for each school system.The Sun regrets the errors.Pub Date: 5/07/97

WHAT'S in a diploma?That's no mere academic question for business leaders in Maryland. Their companies will succeed or fail on the quality of graduates from Maryland high schools.This week will mark yet another milestone in Maryland's long road to school reform, when the State Board of Education votes to tie high school diplomas to a series of rigorous tests.Demonstrated competenceSeveral details still need to be ironed out as the process unfolds. But the board's decision to link the awarding of diplomas to demonstrated competence sets the framework for holding students and their schools accountable for meeting specified standards.

Also in yesterday's Maryland section, an article incorrectly named one of the technology partners with the Maryland State Department of Education. AT&T Corp. is participating in the effort to provide a Web site for each school system.The Sun regrets the errors.Maryland became the first state yesterday to answer President Clinton's "Call to Action" for education when U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, Gov. Parris N. Glendening and state school Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick signed the state's nine-point program for continuing education reform.

St. Jane Frances students recognized in state contestStudents from St. Jane Frances School recently participated in the Annual Maryland Marathon at MacArthur Middle School, Fort Meade.The event, sponsored by the Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland Council of Teachers of Mathematics, tested students in problem-solving in math and engineering.St. Jane Frances students received ribbons in recognition of their teamwork in the invention round of the competition.Jim Saul won third place in the High Flying category; Joseph Selba, third place in the How Sweet It Is category; and Lindsey Carter, fourth place in the How Sweet It Is category.

COLA delayedThe Clinton administration has delayed for three months the 2.6 percent cost-of-living pay hike for retired federal employees which was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 1994.The letter which notified military retirees of this change included the proviso that "members who retired under disability provisions (for medical reasons before having served a minimum of 20 years) . . . will not be affected by this change."What this means is that the vast majority of military retirees, including those who retired after 20 or more years with a "service-connected disability," will be affected, while the relative few who retired because of service connected disabilities will receive the increase as scheduled.

Don't tell your kids, but they might learn something while they're having fun at the Maryland Kids' Convention Saturday and Sunday.From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Towson State University's Towson Center, 40 groups and businesses including the Baltimore County Fire Department, Blockbuster Video and WBAL-TV will showcase their smart cures for summertime blues.Kids can make an arts-and-crafts project, listen to a story by the Maryland State Department of Education and get free snacks, participate in a mini-jousting game and chat with the Orioles mascot and Yogi Bear, among other cartoon guests.

Oakland Mills Middle teacher is finalistSusan Howe, a math teacher at Oakland Mills Middle School for 18 years, has been named one of seven finalists in Maryland's Teacher of the Year program.Howard County Teacher of the Year, Ms. Howe has survived the first cut in a competition that began with representatives from the state's 23 counties and Baltimore. She was chosen as Maryland's outstanding Middle School Math Teacher in 1990."We know that behind each Teacher of the Year there are hundreds of additional dedicated and skilled teachers who are truly the lifeblood of our state," said Gov. William Donald Schaefer.

The Maryland State Department of Education has failed to conduct required inspections at all the day care centers in the state and hired too many temporary educators from local school systems, a legislative audit has found. The education department disagrees with many of the findings in the audit released Wednesday, which has prompted legislators to schedule a hearing Tuesday. The audit found several deficiencies in the department's operations over the past three years, but it was not found to have "serious deficiencies," according to the auditor, Bruce A. Myers.

Two years ago, Marilyn Wilhelm of Annapolis faced a difficult decision. Her husband had lost his job, and the family of six couldn't make it on the single income of a school day-care worker. Her sister suggested she look into a computer networking career, so she enrolled in the Cisco Networking Academy at Anne Arundel Community College. After two semesters of working part time and living off savings, Wilhelm became a Cisco-certified network associate. The entry-level certification ensures technicians know how to connect and manage the wiring and switches to link computers and provide Internet access.

Each year, more Maryland teachers retire or leave the classroom than emerge from the state's schools of education. That needs to change, a Maryland task force said in a new report outlining 26 actions that should be taken in the next several years to produce more teachers from state colleges and to provide incentives for teachers to stay in classrooms. Yesterday, the University System of Maryland Board of Regents education committee recommended that the board begin taking action to get more qualified teachers into classrooms.

It's not surprising that Maryland has the lowest child poverty rate in the nation, according to the latest estimates from the Census Bureau. After all, the bureau also found the state to have the second-highest median household income, and another recent survey ranked Maryland as the nation's wealthiest state. None of these rankings, however, should encourage state officials or residents to become complacent. There are still significant pockets of poverty, most notably in Baltimore, where children and families need a lot of help.

Gifted kids need expert attention I thank The Sun and reporter Liz Bowie for the article on the lack of education programs for the gifted in Maryland ("The others left behind," Nov. 18). As the parent of a child who has been identified as gifted, I can tell you that these children are being ignored. I've also seen that these extremely bright young people are almost universally misunderstood. They often have trouble making friends because they tend to be introverts and their interests are beyond the intellectual abilities of their classmates.

Assessment test plan changes Students who haven't been able to pass the four high school assessment tests can substitute a project called the "bridge plan." To be eligible to do so, a student must: Have failed one or more of the tests twice and have already received some extra help. Have passed the course in the subject of the test. Have satisfactory attendance. Be on track to receive enough credits to graduate. For more information on the bridge plan, go to www.hsaexam.org Source: Maryland State Department of Education

A former Miss Maryland and spokeswoman for state agencies is the new special assistant to County Executive John R. Leopold, with her responsibilities including communications, media and policy, he announced yesterday. Marina Harrison, 26, began her job Monday. She will represent Leopold in the community and produce the weekly TV show Anne Arundel County Week in Review on public access Channel 98. Her salary is $70,000. A 1999 graduate of Meade High School, she served as the student member of the school board her senior year, and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park.

As federal education standards grow more stringent, more Maryland schools are failing to make the grade - 241 last school year, up from 196 the year before, according to Maryland State Department of Education statistics released yesterday. Most of the schools added to the list of those not making "adequate yearly progress" are in Baltimore City, and Prince George's and Montgomery counties, with a few from Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. ONLINE To see a list of schools that did not show adequate progress in each county, go to baltimoresun.

Students come to her kindergarten classes speaking Vietnamese, Spanish and Haitian Creole. Many also face challenges of poverty and race. But Kimberly Oliver, who teaches at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, brings children together, nurtures their minds and inspires a love for learning. Those skills have earned her widespread - and justified - recognition as National Teacher of the Year, the first Maryland educator to be so honored. In 2000, when Ms. Oliver started at Broad Acres, the school faced possible restructuring by the Maryland State Department of Education because of persistently poor performance.

Students from the Baltimore Algebra Project, a tutoring and advocacy group, filed a motion in Circuit Court yesterday asking for the right to temporarily take over the powers of the state school board so they can request $800 million for the city schools. If Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. doesn't respond to that request and allocate the money, the motion says, "we will also temporarily take over the duties of the Governor." The motion was filed with Judge Joseph H.H. Kaplan, who presides over a long-running school funding case.