Percentage Points

Housing vacancies increased at a faster rate along much of Maryland's Eastern Shore over the last decade than in the nation as a whole, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Baltimore's supply of vacant homes, though, expanded more slowly than the nation's rate. The census report contradicts the notion that the number of Baltimore's empty rowhouses is growing at a rapid pace while Marylanders are rushing to new developments in distant counties. The slow pace of construction in the city helped stabilize vacancy rates from 2000 to 2010, while the boom in new homes on Maryland's eastern periphery made the rates escalate there, experts said.

W.E.B. DuBois High School is the latest to win the Mayor's Attendance Campaign competition, after its ninth-grade class increasing its daily attendance by nearly 11 percentage points. The school was surprised with the honor--which includes a dance party staffed by a 92Q DJ at The Grille at Peerce's Landing--with a visit from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake city schools CEO Andres Alonso, and Jonathon Rondeau, of the Family League of Baltimore.  The ninth-grade class increased its daily attendance from 63.42 percent to 74.05 percent, according to a release.

Republican Constance A. Morella, scrapping to hold onto the suburban Washington congressional district she has represented for 16 years, has narrowly pushed ahead of her Democratic challenger after attacking him in a series of ads, a new poll shows. Morella leads Democrat state Sen. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. by 2 percentage points, 44 percent to 42 percent, with 14 percent undecided, according to the poll of likely voters conducted for The Sun and The Gazette newspapers. Her lead climbs to 3 points when undecided voters leaning one way or another are included.

Baltimore continues to lead area school systems in improving its dropout rate, and most districts in the region are making progress in graduating more students in four years, according to new high school data released Monday by the Maryland State Department of Education. Statewide, the Class of 2012 saw steady growth in the percentage of students who earned a high school diploma in four years at 83.6 percent, up from 82.8 percent of students who graduated in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of students who dropped out in 2012 fell to 10.3 percent, down from 11.2 percent, according to the department.

A double dose of math and an ounce of intervention are being credited for double-digit growth in Howard County students' algebra scores on the state's most recent High School Assessment tests. Overall, the system's scores increased in algebra, biology, and government, according to data released this week by the Maryland Department of Education. Students in Howard County's 12 high schools made the biggest gains in algebra, increasing 10.9 percentage points to an overall 85.2 passing percentage.

After dipping slightly last year on the annual state achievement exams, Howard County pupils' scores crept up this year, improving their scores by 2.1 percentage points - but not enough to regain the county system's long-standing first-place ranking. The 44,000-student district had held first place in the state since 1993, but lost the distinction last year to Kent County, an Eastern Shore system with eight schools. Kent County is still first in the state, beating Howard County by six-tenths of a point.

As Howard County officials worry about preserving Columbia's economic and racial diversity, a new report shows small decreases in the percentage of African-Americans in several older schools where black children have become concentrated in recent years. Elementary schools in Owen Brown, Long Reach, Oakland Mills and Wilde Lake saw small decreases in the percentage of blacks enrolled, as did Guilford near Kings Contrivance. Overall, six of the 10 county elementary schools with more than one-third black enrollments reported small reductions in those concentrations - a reversal from last year, when nine of the 10 schools reported higher percentages of blacks.

LOS ANGELES - As Bill Clinton prepares to say farewell to his party tonight, new polling shows Al Gore closing in on George W. Bush. Gore still trails the Texas governor, as he has for most of this year. But two new voter surveys released yesterday put Bush just 3 to 5 percentage points ahead, though a third showed Gore behind by double digits. The vice president is counting on a boost coming out of the Democratic National Convention, which opens here today. But he is also hoping for a popularity spurt like the one Bush enjoyed in the run-up to his party's recent gathering.

Baltimore continues to lead area school systems in improving its dropout rate, and most districts in the region are making progress in graduating more students in four years, according to new high school data released Monday by the Maryland State Department of Education. Statewide, the Class of 2012 saw steady growth in the percentage of students who earned a high school diploma in four years at 83.6 percent, up from 82.8 percent of students who graduated in 2011. Meanwhile, the number of students who dropped out in 2012 fell to 10.3 percent, down from 11.2 percent, according to the department.

Here are the latest of three polls on the presidential race: Obama: 49 percent; McCain: 43 percent ABC News-Washington Post poll, conducted Aug. 19-22 with 916 registered voters. Sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points Obama: 45 percent; McCain: 45 percent Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, conducted Aug. 21-23 with 2,625 registered voters. Sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Obama: 46 percent; McCain: 43 percent Rasmussen Reports daily presidential tracking poll, conducted Aug. 21-23 with 3,000 likely voters.

A new internal poll released by Democratic congressional candidate John Delaney on Thursday shows that the Potomac businessman has a commanding lead in the 6th Congressional District primary election race. The poll, conducted March 26-27, shows Delaney with 49 percent of the vote compared with 23 percent for state Sen. Rob Garagiola of Germantown. That's an increase over a poll the campaign conducted earlier in March that showed Delaney with 41 percent compared with 24 percent for Garagiola.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney enjoys a 17 point lead over Rick Santorum in Maryland, according to a poll released Thursday by Rasmussen Reports. The poll shows Romney with 45 percent of the vote, Santorum with 28 percent, Newt Gingrich at 12 percent and Ron Paul at 7 percent. The primary is on Tuesday. Though the presidential primary appeared to be winding down in the days before Maryland voters went to the polls, the state's 37 delegates managed to draw Romney, Gingrich and Paul for appearances.

An internal poll conducted by Democrat John Delaney's campaign for Maryland's 6th District race shows the Potomac financier is gaining ground against State Sen. Robert Garagiola and is tied in a head-to-head matchup, according to a summary of the survey. The poll, conducted during the first week in February, shows both Delaney and Garagiola receiving 20 percent of the vote. Those figures represent momentum for Delaney, who was down four points in the same poll in November. Both candidates took 21 percent of the vote when undecided respondents were asked if they are leaning toward one candidate or another.

Housing vacancies increased at a faster rate along much of Maryland's Eastern Shore over the last decade than in the nation as a whole, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Baltimore's supply of vacant homes, though, expanded more slowly than the nation's rate. The census report contradicts the notion that the number of Baltimore's empty rowhouses is growing at a rapid pace while Marylanders are rushing to new developments in distant counties. The slow pace of construction in the city helped stabilize vacancy rates from 2000 to 2010, while the boom in new homes on Maryland's eastern periphery made the rates escalate there, experts said.

Baltimore's public schools are being recognized as "revitalized" and on an upward trajectory in a national report released last week. As part of the March 2011 Grad Nation Summit, bringing together more than 800 education and policymaking leaders in Washington, D.C., Baltimore was among four school systems cited for significant progress over the last decade. The report, "Building a Grad Nation: Progress and Challenge in Ending the High School Dropout Epidemic, 2010-2011 Annual Report," highlights that the high school graduation rate in Baltimore City Public Schools has increased approximately 12 percentage points since 1996 (16 percentage points if students who take five years to graduate are counted)

Nearly a decade after the state pushed to have full-day kindergarten and more high-quality early childhood programs, an annual survey shows that 81 percent of the state's kindergartners have the academic and social skills they will need to be successful in school. The state's Ready to Learn report shows a 32 percentage-point jump in the past decade in the number of children ready when they enter kindergarten. "We have seen a major improvement that impacts thousands of children," said Rolf Grafwallner, assistant state superintendent for early childhood development.

A few days into the review of Harford County pupils' performance on the Maryland School Assessment, educators are upbeat about a marked improvement in math skills and concerned about static reading scores. In math, Harford eighth-graders posted an overall increase of nearly eight points on the annual performance test. The number of middle-school pupils who passed the math portion of the testing was up 5.3 percentage points in sixth and seventh grades. A few schools showed outstanding results.

You dress up for job interviews and meetings with clients. That's a given. But making a good first impression isn't the only way your fashion style comes into play. Colleagues size up your outfits to decide whether you're stodgy or fun, among other things. That's according to a recent survey by TheLadders.com, a job site for executives. More than 70 percent of respondents said that employees dressed in suits are seen as more senior-level, while 60 percent believe those workers are taken more seriously.

I'm pretty sure a lot of you haven't noticed this — because there hasn't been anything about it on TV — but we're right in the middle of the political season, which happens to be right in the middle of the football season, which means that you probably got a call from a pollster right when Billy Cundiff was lining up for the game-winning field goal on Sunday. Fortunately, if you're a football fan, you're already familiar with the polling process. They play most of the college games on Saturday.

Five months into a court order requiring the state to speed up delivery of food stamps and medical benefits to low-income residents, Department of Human Resources officials say more Marylanders are getting those services at a quicker pace. As of the end of May, the compliance rate for food stamps was about 89 percent, up 6 percentage points from the beginning of February, according to the DHR. The compliance rate for the Maryland Children's Health Insurance program was 85.7 percent, up 6 percentage points; and the rate for the Temporary Cash Assistance program was 93.8 percent, up about 5 percentage points since February.