Scores for Baltimore County's third- and eighth-graders fell in the latest round of MSPAP testing, but school officials quickly dismissed the results because Maryland is replacing the standardized exams.

Meanwhile, the county ranked in the middle of the state's 24 school districts on the state's new high school exams. Those results, also released yesterday, showed that Towson, Hereford and Dulaney high schools scored among the highest in the region and Maryland.

"No matter which assessment we use, that puts us in the middle of the ballgame, which means we have a solid school system," said Superintendent Joe A. Hairston.

Both sets of results reaffirmed that African-American students trail their white classmates in academic performance.

The percentage of third-graders scoring satisfactorily on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program ranged from 33 percent to 48 percent in the six subjects. Those are the lowest levels for county students since the mid-1990s.

The percentage of eighth-graders earning satisfactory scores fell in all subjects, while fifth-graders' results were mixed.

All three grades were well below the state's objective of having 70 percent of students scoring at satisfactory levels.

At Woodlawn Middle, the only school in the county at risk for a state takeover, MSPAP scores dropped in all subjects. However, the state will not use these scores to decide whether the school should be taken over.

School system officials knocked the MSPAP results, saying the exams were graded for the first time by a firm from outside Maryland and that principals and teachers were preparing for the tests, to be given in spring, that will replace MSPAP.

"We're going to look more at the CTBS [Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills] scores" than MSPAP when assessing the performance of schools, said Paul Mazza, director of assessment, research and testing.

On the High School Assessments, given for the first time last school year, the school system's scores trailed those of all others in the Baltimore metropolitan area except the city's.

County schools ranked 12th of Maryland's 24 school systems in geometry, government and algebra. It ranked 17th in biology and 19th in English.

The "percentile ranks" in the subjects ranged from 46 to 51, which means county students were about average when compared with all other students in Maryland. The state has not yet established a passing score on the exams, so the results do not indicate mastery of a subject.

Hairston said the system's performance on the high school tests remained consistent with those on other standardized tests, despite an increasingly diverse student population.

"That is what I wanted to make sure of -- to stabilize the organization -- and that puts us in a good position to improve," he said.

Highs and lows

Performances by individual schools varied widely. Chesapeake, Randallstown and Woodlawn High schools and Milford Mill Academy had percentile scores lower than the city's in some subjects. Baltimore ranked at or near the bottom in the six subjects.

"We believe a lot of the kids know the information -- they just don't know how to express it, so the last two years we've been working on the writing," said C. Anthony Thompson, Woodlawn High principal.

At the other extreme were Dulaney, Hereford and Towson, which were among the highest-scoring in the state.

Jane N. Barranger, principal at Towson High, attributed the results to effective teaching, supportive parents and well- prepared students.

"As I go around the school, I see good teaching on a daily basis, and I see kids being challenged and I see kids being prepared. That's important because confidence has a lot to do with performance," she said.

Algebra success

A bright spot, Mazza said, was the good performances of middle school pupils taking the algebra exam early.

At General John Stricker Middle School in the southeast portion of the county, Principal Deborah S. Klaus said all pupils were being pushed to take algebra before high school. Those who need help receive tutoring after school, over the summer and in a second math class.

"They can do it -- they just need a little extra support," she said.