Reading And Math

THE GOOD NEWS about reading test scores in city schools all but obscured another accomplishment: Mathematics scores shot up, as well. At school after school in this year's administration of the California Test of Basic Skills, math scores paralleled reading scores on an upward slope. Dallas F. Nicholas Sr. Elementary was an example. Third-grade median reading scores jumped from 28 percent last year to 45 percent this year, while math scores moved from 32 percent to 68 percent. Since the first and third R's are so intertwined - you can't work a math problem if you can't read it - it's not surprising that reading and math scores shadow each other, especially on a nationally standardized test such as the CTBS.

Delighted with the big gains city school pupils made on reading and math tests, education officials plan to keep their current strategies while increasing efforts to teach pre-reading skills to 4- and 5-year-olds. "For now I would stay the course," said Betty Morgan, chief academic officer of city schools. School officials are beginning an in-depth analysis of the soaring scores reported last week from the national standardized test city elementary pupils took this spring. Sixth- and seventh-grade scores have yet to be released.

Carroll County students showed solid improvements on every category of the Maryland School Assessment tests, with special-education students making significant strides in reading and math performance. Nearly 80 percent of Carroll students passed the reading test at each grade level, scoring above the state average and last year's results. Math scores were comparable, except for the county's eighth-graders, with 58.5 percent of the students passing the math test. The results for the eighth-graders, however, jumped by 6 percentage points compared with last year.

The majority of Baltimore's first-graders scored above the national median for the second straight year on reading and math tests, while children in the city's troubled middle schools made solid gains this spring in both subjects. Even with flat reading scores in several grades, school officials said the overall results of national standardized exams for first- through eighth-graders show the system is continuing to make steady progress in its effort to raise pupil achievement. Scores on the TerraNova, formerly known as the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, went up in every grade in math.

A day after John R. O'Rourke announced his ambitious plan to help third-graders who are behind in reading and math, the newly appointed schools chief said he is working out details, including what the follow-up will be for students who are behind after fourth grade. "This [plan] is meant to say we're serious about this. I'm serious about this," O'Rourke said yesterday. "It's meant to advocate on behalf of teachers and principals, and at the same time give us information about how we can continuously improve.

State education officials detailed yesterday the next generation of standardized tests to be offered come spring - a mix of multiple-choice questions and longer essays that will replace the increasingly criticized, decade-old Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. The Maryland School Assessment, as it is called, will allow parents to see just how their children are performing, instead of having to rely only on the scores of their child's school. The test is shorter, more streamlined and allows for comparison to students nationwide, something the MSPAP was never designed to do. Tests in science, social studies and writing are gone; the focus will instead be on reading and math, mirroring new federal legislation.

Baltimore County's younger pupils continued to make steady gains on national standardized tests for reading and mathematics during the 1999-2000 school year, with scores sliding only slightly among first-grade readers. County school officials said the test results, released yesterday, were continuing proof that programs - including phonics-based reading instruction - were working and, at most, needed tweaking to continue a trend of rising scores. Among second-graders, 89 percent of pupils scored at or above grade level in reading, compared with 87 percent last year and 85 percent in 1998.

"Keeping the Dream Alive," this year's theme of the NAACP, is a continuing effort by the group to preserve and teach the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy. King's courageous effort to spread brotherhood, unity and love still rings true in this world today.In conjunction with commemorating King's birthday, the community of Pumphrey and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will sponsor the third annual prayer breakfast. Breakfast will begin at8:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Lloyd Keaser Center, 5757 Belle Grove Road.

Despite the disruptions of a financial crisis that threatened their school system with insolvency, Baltimore's students made gains in every grade and nearly every subject area on this year's statewide exams, in many cases outpacing students in the rest of the state. "This chart speaks volumes about the work that went on this year," said an exuberant Bonnie S. Copeland, the school system's chief executive officer, pointing to a bar graph showing scores moving steadily upward. "For all of the challenges confronting the system this year - the financial issues, layoffs, the talk of layoffs and a myriad of banner headlines that forecasted the demise of the school system - we stayed focused on teaching and learning."

When Superintendent John R. O'Rourke made his ambitious announcement last week that he wanted the names of all Howard County third-graders who were behind in reading and math, observers praised his leadership, his willingness to take responsibility and a kick-butt-and-take-names attitude too few school system leaders exhibit. But there's more to O'Rourke's plan - or vision, as he calls it - than gumption. Years of research supports O'Rourke's idea that third grade is a critical time in children's academic careers and that if no one's taken a good, hard look at their performance by that time and taken steps to improve it, problems can be expected only to get worse.