Many Baltimore schools improved their scores in almost every subject on the state's 1994 test of thinking skills, a newly issued school-by-school report card shows.
Baltimore's overall scores on the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) tests remained the lowest in the state but improved by a few percentage points in every subject except writing.
The scores at several schools managed by Education Alternatives Inc. echoed those improvements.
School officials welcomed the signs of progress and pledged to build on them.
"My general feeling is that this is good news, but it's still news that is tenuous because there are so many things to be considered in addition to standardized testing," said Superintendent Walter G. Amprey.
"This is just one snapshot," the superintendent said. "I don't want to become comfortable at all, and I know we have more to do. We cannot let up."
He said the school-by-school report shows that meeting state standards may be a goal within reach in some subjects at some schools, but probably will remain a challenge for most.
The state's performance-assessment tests are in reading, math, social studies, science, writing and language usage. Created to spur schools to train a generation in problem-solving and reasoning skills by the year 2000, the state test sets high standards.
None of Baltimore's schools met the state standard -- 70 percent of students scoring "satisfactory" or better -- in any subject on the tests given last spring.
The average proportion achieving satisfactory scores was 11.7 percent in Baltimore and 35.2 percent statewide.
Three of 780 elementary schools in Maryland met all of the state standards for the third grade, and four met them for the fifth grade. State officials have not identified the schools.
No schools met all standards for the eighth grade.
A few schools recorded scores ranging from 20 percent to 60 percent satisfactory in some subjects.
Elementary schools with high percentages of students scoring satisfactory include Walter P. Carter, Gardenville, Glenmount, Hamilton, Francis Scott Key, Mount Washington, Rognel Heights, Roland Park, Tench Tilghman and Woodhome.
Middle schools with high percentages of satisfactory scores include Barclay, Canton, Hamilton, Hazelwood, Fallstaff, Francis Scott Key, Mount Royal, Northeast and Roland Park.
L'Tanya Sloan, the school system official whose task it will be to interpret the scores and set goals to help teachers meet goals, said, "Where we improved, I would like to see us maintain the same level of growth."
State analysts are still examining the tests taken at schools where scores soared, said Mark Moody, assistant state superintendent. They want to be certain the scores represent improvement and not an error in testing or scoring.
Change takes time, he said. In the MSPAP scores, it is most likely to appear as short hops -- not grand leaps.
The state uses test scores in combination with other factors, such as attendance, to identify school progress and decline. The state identified the lowest-performing schools as Furman Templeton Elementary and Lombard Middle.
By the formula the state uses, five of the nine schools managed by EAI (Dr. Rayner Browne, Edgewood, Mary Rodman and Graceland Park elementaries and Harlem Park Middle) showed improvement. Two (Mildred Monroe and Harlem Park) showed slight declines.
Scores at Sarah Roach, one of the models of the EAI program, declined in every subject.
Dr. Amprey said he would look into the results at Roach.
The ninth school, Malcolm X, is prekindergarten through second grade; so the students take no MSPAP tests, which start in third grade.
"We feel our progress in math, especially at the third grade, has been very, very positive," said Philip E. Geiger, EAI's divisional president. Dr. Geiger credits the progress to students' 15-minute-a-day computer exercises and to EAI's emphasis on teaching the basics.
EAI's critics, however, were not satisfied with the gains.
Linda Prudente, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Teachers Union, said, "You aren't seeing only EAI doing better, you're seeing all the schools doing better.
"It's outrageous that we're paying that much more money to get the same kind of results that other schools are showing."