Maryland officials put their best face on the state's results in the latest national reading assessment yesterday, but there were no miracles to brag about.

State-by-state results for the 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) were released yesterday in Washington, and Maryland fourth-graders showed modest gains.

There also were signs that more of the state's poorest readers had reached the basic level of skills.

Overall, federal officials cited Maryland as one of 10 states that had made "solid progress" on the tests. But even state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick acknowledged that Maryland's performance was "just inching along."

Maryland's average score of 215 on a 500-point scale -- up from 210 in 1994 and 211 in 1992 -- matched the national average for fourth-graders.

On the eighth-grade NAEP reading test, administered for the first time in 1998, Maryland's average was one percentage point above the national average.

In releasing the state-by-state results, federal officials called the Maryland fourth-grade increase "statistically significant," but Grasmick and Mark Moody, the state testing chief, were less sanguine.

"I'm not rejoicing today," Grasmick said. "This is about what I had predicted. We still have a huge distance to go."

The superintendent again predicted that major statewide reforms in reading instruction, many of them launched in the past two years, will "bear fruit" when the reading test is administered again in 2000.

Middle school performance continues to be the state's "sore spot," said Grasmick.

She has a task force working on the problem, and she said yesterday that she would soon propose a "bold revamping" of the middle schools.

Scores stagnant for years

Eighth-grade reading scores have been stagnant in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program since testing began in 1993. Maryland scores mirror the NAEP scores, said Moody.

"There hasn't been enough emphasis on achievement in middle schools," Grasmick said. "That's where the decline starts.

"I'm going to make some very specific proposals, and very quickly."

At the same time, Grasmick and Moody saw these bright spots in Maryland's latest report card:

The percentage of inept fourth-grade readers -- those classified "below basic" -- decreased by six percentage points between 1994 and 1998 from 45 percent to 39 percent.

(But 63 percent of fourth-graders eligible for federally subsidized lunches performed below the basic level.)

During the same time, the proportion of the state's fourth-graders reading at or above the basic level increased from 55 percent to 61 percent.

Students at the "basic" level have partial mastery of the knowledge and skills of good readers.

The gap between Maryland's black and white fourth-graders narrowed over the four years.

White fourth-graders' average scores increased from 223 to 229, while black fourth-graders' scores increased from 185 to 195.

Only national assessment

NAEP is administered to a sample of students in 43 states and the District of Columbia. NAEP is the only national assessment of what students know in various academic subjects.

Twelfth-grade results were reported this year at the national level only.

Federal officials gave nearly every state a "well done" on the tests yesterday -- even though 39 percent of American fourth-graders still don't read at a basic level.

As they had a month ago when national results were released in Washington, Vice President Al Gore and Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley took comfort in the fact that no state lost ground between 1994 and 1998.

Connecticut a winner

Riley summoned Connecticut to the head of the class, saying it was a "clear winner" in the most recent NAEP tests.

That state led the nation in fourth-grade reading and also showed the largest increase over 1994, 10 points.

California had been embarrassed by a rank of dead last in the 1994 testing and 2 1/2 years ago began limiting its class sizes in early grades to 20 students.

Riley said the Golden State -- along with other 1994 laggards, among them Georgia, Louisiana and West Virginia -- "seem to be regaining their footing."

California's average fourth-grade score increased by five points, from 197 to 202.

A former governor of South Carolina, Riley took pains to praise the reading initiatives of California Gov. Gray Davis, who, in his first two months in office, has taken a package of reform reading bills before a special session of the Legislature.

"I support the governor's sense of urgency," Riley said.

Pub Date: 3/05/99