Reading And Math

Maryland students made gains in reading and math on the most recent national tests, in some cases outpacing strides made in other states. In three of the four tests given in the spring, Maryland ranked slightly above the national average. Still, that means that - as in many other states - fewer than half of Maryland students are passing the national tests. The National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in reading and math were given to 700,000 students in the fourth and eighth grades in Maryland and across the nation in March.

News from the U.S. Department of Education that high school seniors in 2005 scored significantly lower in reading than their counterparts in 1992 has produced a fresh round of hand-wringing about the nation's 14,900 public high schools. There's a lot to worry about: By some calculations, barely more than half of black and Latino students earn regular high school diplomas, and the new federal study reports that only 35 percent of all students who stay in school into their senior year read well enough to make inferences from a passage.

TO WIN an election, a candidate often makes promises that prove difficult to keep. Parris N. Glendening has put himself squarely in that uncomfortable position.During last year's gubernatorial election, Mr. Glendening pledged to put 1,110 more teachers into local classrooms to tutor kids in reading and math. That commitment neatly neutralized a somewhat similar pledge by his opponent, Ellen R. Sauerbrey, to hire an extra 1,000 reading teachers.But after he was re-elected, Mr. Glendening decided not to include any money in his budget for these educators.

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist in related projects.Among them are:Park Heights Family Support Center, 4236 Pimlico Road, Baltimore, for tutoring of adults in reading and math between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Contact: Perketer Tucker, 410-578-0244.Hampden Family Center, 1104 W. 36th St., for tutoring students of all ages in reading and other subjects, and an after-school enrichment program for ages 7 to 12. Hours are 3 p.m. to 5: 30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist in related projects. Among them are:St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, 740 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, which needs tutors in reading and other subject areas to work with pupils in grades six through eight at homework club meetings from 5: 30 p.m. to 7: 30 p.m. Wednesdays. Contact: Jeffrey Sindler or Mary Campbell, 410-539-8268.Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, for after-school centers at Fells Point, the Johns Hopkins medical complex and Southwest Baltimore.

FIRST CAME the reading wars. Then the mathematics wars. The two are waged on adjacent battlefields by similar armies wielding similar weapons.Both wars pit traditional basic skills against "higher-order thinking" and "process." On the one side: phonics, "old math" and Direct Instruction. On the other: "whole language" and "whole math," group discussion, lots of essays, calculators (in math) and guessing (in both math and reading).A glossary is helpful. Don't confuse whole math with "new math," the early '60s craze.

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist in related projects.Among them are:Children's Guild, a school serving children with emotional difficulties. Tutors are needed between 8: 30 a.m. and 2: 30 p.m. weekdays to work with pupils in elementary reading and math at the school's Annapolis location, 1399 Forest Drive. Contact: Earl Hines, 410-636-7255.Gregory Foundation, 600 Reisterstown Road, Suite 306, Pikesville, a private, nonprofit human services agency that works with special-needs children in foster care.

Schools, libraries and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and assist in related projects.Among them are:The Children's Guild, a school serving children with emotional difficulties. Tutors are needed between 8: 30 a.m. and 2: 30 p.m. weekdays to work with pupils in elementary reading and math at the school's Annapolis location, 1339 Forest Drive. Contact: Earl Hines, 410-636-7255.Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, for after-school centers at Fells Point, the Johns Hopkins medical complex and Southwest Baltimore.

Area schools, libraries and literacy programs use volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills.Among them are:Mary E. Rodman Elementary School, 3510 W. Mulberry St., to read with students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade weekday mornings and from 2: 10 p.m. to 2: 40 p.m. Fridays. Contact: Ann Herrmann, 410-396-0508, Ext. 111.Park Heights Family Support Center, 4236 Pimlico Road, Baltimore, to tutor adults in reading and math between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Area schools, libraries and literacy programs use volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills.Among them are:Partnership for Learning, an agency of the Baltimore state's attorney's office, works with first-time juvenile offenders who have reading difficulties and learning disabilities. The partnership will train prospective tutors in the multisensory, phonics-based Wilson Learning System of reading instruction, with the next training session set for Saturday. Contact: Mischa Green, 410-396-5092.

Researchers have found one more clue in their search for the reason that girls don't do as well as boys in math: a nation's culture. Scientists compared math and reading scores on tests given to thousands of 15-year-old students in 40 countries and then examined how each country ranked in terms of gender equality. While girls generally scored lower in math than boys, girls did better in countries with greater gender equality than in less progressive countries. Girls performed best in countries such as Norway and Iceland, which have progressive gender policies, and worst in countries such as Turkey, which scored relatively low on standard measures of gender equality.

A new report confirms complaints that a lot of teachers and school districts have voiced about the federal No Child Left Behind law - that the focus on reading and math doesn't leave enough time for other subjects, such as social studies, art and music. It's a dilemma that didn't originate with NCLB but has been exacerbated by it. The best solution is to recognize, as Maryland does, that exposure to a variety of subjects is what constitutes a well-rounded education. According to the Center on Education Policy, more than 60 percent of school districts have increased instruction time in elementary schools for either or both English language arts and math since 2001-2002, just before NCLB was enacted - and 44 percent have done so at the expense of other subjects.

The pressure for elementary schools to show progress under No Child Left Behind has come at a cost - less time is being devoted to social studies, science, art and music. But time for reading and math has received a substantial boost, according to a study that examined 349 of the nation's school systems. The report released yesterday by the Center on Education Policy shows that some school districts increased math and reading time by as much as 150 minutes a week, while cutting time for social studies, science, music and art by one-third.

Maryland students made gains in reading and math on the most recent national tests, in some cases outpacing strides made in other states. In three of the four tests given in the spring, Maryland ranked slightly above the national average. Still, that means that - as in many other states - fewer than half of Maryland students are passing the national tests. The National Assessment of Educational Progress tests in reading and math were given to 700,000 students in the fourth and eighth grades in Maryland and across the nation in March.

With a domestic agenda that is practically stalled, President Bush is trying to salvage one of his earliest and most visible accomplishments - the No Child Left Behind law. The ambitious attempt to make schools and school districts more accountable for achievement among all students is up for reauthorization and facing some justifiable criticism. A recent study notes that student scores in reading and math have improved in many states, but NCLB's measurements and funding need major adjustments.

The locked double doors inside Cranberry Station Elementary held back a growing and increasingly anxious crowd of would-be tourists who milled through the Westminster school's lobby. The estimated 150 students and their parents who attended "Around the World with Reading and Math" already had some hint of their potential destinations: adventures in Africa and Antarctica, a journey to Japan, a run through the rain forest. "This is a way for them to see what their children are doing," said Wendy Eaves, a health teacher who organized the family math and reading night.

News from the U.S. Department of Education that high school seniors in 2005 scored significantly lower in reading than their counterparts in 1992 has produced a fresh round of hand-wringing about the nation's 14,900 public high schools. There's a lot to worry about: By some calculations, barely more than half of black and Latino students earn regular high school diplomas, and the new federal study reports that only 35 percent of all students who stay in school into their senior year read well enough to make inferences from a passage.

Results on Maryland's annual reading and math tests were generally up this year, but overall improvement, particularly among middle schools, was nothing to shout about. And while Baltimore students continue to make good progress, the city still falls way behind the rest of the state. State and local education officials need to look at a number of different solutions in their search for greater achievement. The yearly state assessments are used to show compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law, which emphasizes annual progress.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Thousands of schools across the nation are responding to the reading and math testing requirements laid out in No Child Left Behind, President Bush's signature education law, by reducing class time spent on other subjects and, for some low-proficiency students, eliminating it. Schools from Vermont to California are increasing -- in some cases tripling -- the class time that low-proficiency students spend on reading and math, mainly...

WASHINGTON - America's elementary school pupils made solid gains in reading and mathematics in the first years of this decade, while middle school pupils made less progress and older teenagers hardly any, according to federal test results released yesterday. The results, considered the best measure of the nation's long-term education trends, show that 9-year-old minority pupils made the most gains. In particular, young black pupils significantly narrowed the longtime gap between their math and reading scores and those of higher-achieving white pupils, who also made strong gains.