As a group, the Baltimore City middle schools targeted for takeover in the spring by the Maryland State Department of Education showed improvement this year on the Maryland State Assessments after a survey of recently released test scores.
Of the seven middle schools the state attempted to seize under the No Child Left Behind Act, four demonstrated overall improvement among sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders in math and reading; one school?s MSA results remained virtually unchanged; and two schools? cumulative scores dropped.
In 42 categories reviewed (the seven schools were tested in three grades in math and science), the middle schools registered improvement in 24 areas while slipping in 18. For example, Calverton improved 4.7 percent in the number of students proficient in sixth-grade math, but fell 0.4 percent in sixth-grade reading proficiency. Of note, 12 positive increases of 5 percent were posted, but only four decreases of 5 percent or more were scored.
Much of the progress can be attributed to gains made at Patterson, whose proficiency scores went up in both reading and math in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
Whether the progress is significant was disputed, said state school superintendent Nancy Grasmick.
“All the school systems across the state have shown improvement,” Grasmick said at the State Board of Education meeting June 20, adding, however, in a reference to the Baltimore City middle schools, “an increase of 5 percent proficiency to 7 percent is not worthy of applause.”
Brian Morris, Baltimore school board chairman, said the improvements in the Baltimore City middle schools were “absolutely” significant.
After Patterson, Hamilton, which scored 11.4 percent and 9.6 percent increases in seventh-grade reading and math, respectively; and Calverton, which improved substantially in both seventh-grade surveys, demonstrated the next biggest gains. Diggs-Johnson increased its sixth-grade numbers and its seventh-grade reading results and improved overall. Thurgood Marshall made small improvements in four of the six categories, but did not make overall improvement because of a 6.6 percent decrease in the number of sixth-graders scoring proficient in reading. Chinquapin and Lemmel improved in two categories, but fell in four others.
For middle-schoolers in the city overall, MSA scores went up in sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade math, and seventh grade reading, but fell slightly, 0.2 percent, in sixth-grade reading, and decreased 0.6 percent in eighth-grade reading proficiency.
