Reading And Math

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.

Area schools and literacy programs seek volunteers to help children and adults improve reading skills and to assist with related projects. Among them: The Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, needs volunteers to work in the Student Express area tutoring middle- and high-school students in reading and math. The program continues through the summer. Tutors are needed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact: Eunice Harper, 410-396-5484.

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.

The new Baltimore school board gave tentative approval yesterday to first-year reform plans that would add three new teachers and specialists to every elementary school, invest $15,000 to $20,000 per school into improving teacher training and provide $35,000 to $40,000 to each school for extended-day reading and math instruction.During a public meeting that capped a three-day, in-town retreat, the school board agreed in principle to more than 30 initiatives they hope will produce significant academic improvements by the end of the coming school year.

Eight-year-old Lauren Denmark has spent the past six weeks catching up on some reading. The book tally so far -- 161 and counting."I like reading because it's interesting," said Lauren, a student at Swansfield Elementary School in Columbia. "I like when it's different from reality."Lauren is one of 24 Swansfield students who participated in a six-week summer session, part of the federally funded Chapter One program, for students in the first through third grades who need additional help with their reading and math skills.

THE MARYLAND School Performance Assessment Program, may it rest in peace, was criticized as cumbersome and useless because it measured the progress of schools, not children. But if MSPAP was a poor diagnostic tool, it had one thing going for it that its successor Maryland School Assessment lacks: In addition to reading and math, it tested performance in writing, science and social studies. It didn't snub the liberal arts. MSA defenders argue that they had no choice but to concentrate on reading and math.