Tucked amid a block of rowhouses around the corner from Camden Yards is an elementary school with a statistical profile that often spells academic trouble: 76 percent of the students are poor, and 95 percent are minorities.
But George Washington Elementary has more academic whizzes than most of the schools in Howard, Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore counties.
These students don't just pass the Maryland School Assessment - they ace it. About 46.2 percent of George Washington students are scoring at the advanced level, representing nearly half of the school's 94 percent pass rate.
An analysis by The Sun of 2007 MSA scores shows that most schools with a large percentage of high achievers on the test are in the suburban counties, often neighborhoods of middle- and upper-middle-class families. But a few schools in poorer neighborhoods, such as George Washington, have beaten the odds.
Statewide, Howard County had the highest percentage of students with advanced scores, and Montgomery and Worcester counties weren't far behind.
Of the top five elementary schools, two are in Montgomery County, two in Anne Arundel and one in Baltimore County.
Whether they are in wealthy or poor neighborhoods, schools with lots of high-scoring students share certain characteristics. They have experienced teachers who stay for years, and they offer extracurricular activities after school. Sometimes, they have many students in gifted-and-talented classes working with advanced material.
These are the schools that families looking for a great public education will seek out and move close to because students are achieving far beyond the basic levels set by state and federal laws.
"We should be pushing our kids into the advanced level," says Carol Williamson, associate superintendent in Queen Anne's County. "It isn't enough to have your child just make it."
The state test in reading and math is given annually to elementary school students in third, fourth and fifth grades and to middle school students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. Students taking an MSA earn one of three results: They can fail; they can pass by demonstrating a basic level of achievement called "proficient"; or they can pass with a higher level called "advanced." Most analyses of MSA results consider only the total pass rate because this is the benchmark monitored by the state.
The Sun compiled a ranking of schools based on the percentage of students scoring at the advanced level. Cold Spring Elementary in Potomac, Montgomery County, was at the top of the statewide list, with 74.2 percent of its students scoring at an advanced level.
On the middle school level, Howard County had more schools in the top 20 than any other school system in the Baltimore area.
Baltimore County, one of the most diverse school systems in the area, has even more schools in the top 30 than Howard County, but a smaller percentage of high-achieving students throughout the district.
Today, many children in the state no longer see passing the dreaded Maryland School Assessment as a big deal. While public attention has focused on failing schools, there are dozens of elementary schools statewide where 90 percent or more of students are passing the test.
Principals say the discussion in these high-performing schools has moved away from worrying about how many students will pass to how many students will fly through the test with ease and score in the advanced category.
The question, says Robert O. Glascock, an assistant superintendent in Howard County, is, "What can we do to have more of our children achieve at a higher level?"
Some administrators think that school systems with separate classes for gifted-and-talented students have an edge when it comes to having students who score at the advanced level. Montgomery, Howard and Baltimore counties, for instance, all offer many students an advanced curriculum in reading, math, social studies and science from second grade on.
In middle school, these students are taking Algebra I in seventh grade, and by sophomore year in high school they have moved on to Advanced Placement classes.
"We want large numbers of students in the advanced-level programs," says Glascock.
At Carroll Manor in northern Baltimore County, which ranks in the top 10 of elementary schools with advanced scores, more than 40 percent of students are in gifted-and-talented classes for reading or math, said John Kroh, the principal. Carroll Manor has 69 percent of its students scoring at the advanced level, the highest in the county.
But not all educators believe that is key.
George Washington, with only about 250 students, doesn't have gifted programs. Teachers there try to offer a good basic education, using the city curriculum, while making it a point to offer lots of support and encouragement. "We have a lot of caring, compassion and patience with our children," says the principal, Susan Burgess.
Like other city schools with a high percentage of poor children, George Washington offers an optional three-week summer program where students can get a head start on the next year. Last week, a visitor found students sitting in small groups around a teacher and working eagerly to learn math, read about Greece or study sentence structure.
"If I study every day, I get smarter and smarter," said Roland Tyler, 12.
Shipley's Choice Elementary in Anne Arundel County also doesn't have classes designated as gifted-and-talented, yet 70 percent of its students score at the advanced level - the highest in the metro area.
Just as important as gifted programs might be a number of other factors, particularly the experience and training of the staff, or whether schools are in poor or wealthy neighborhoods. Burgess pointed out that George Washington has "a lot of experienced teachers and very little teacher turnover."
At Carroll Manor, all the teachers are classified by the state as "highly qualified" and many have master's degrees.
And at Cold Spring Elementary in Montgomery County - which tops the statewide list - Principal Martin J. Barnett says 95 percent of his teachers are highly qualified and six or seven are nationally board certified, which means they have met even more rigorous standards.
Don't look for any job openings there. "When we get a teacher, they stay year after year," Barnett says.
But it isn't just experience and tenure that seem to matter in successful schools. Teachers also need to feel they have some say in how their school is run, educators say. George Washington teacher Tracy Larkins says teachers at her school have been given a degree of autonomy. When staff members go to the principal with a new idea, they usually will be allowed to try it out, she said.
Recently, the school has allowed teachers to concentrate on what they do best, so Larkins, for instance, teaches all of the math and science in the third-grade curriculum, while another teacher concentrates on language arts.
Top-performing schools also have a lot of extracurricular activities. In some cases, the chess club, writing club and geography clubs are run by parents. "We have an advantage where parents are really concerned about their child's education," says Carroll Manor's Kroh. "They are really on top of things."
Rocco Ferretti became principal of Shipley's Choice this month. In his first 11 days, he had 30 conferences with parents. "The motivation to be an excellent student is incredibly high here," he said.
George Washington doesn't have a high level of parent involvement, so teachers have decided to run their own after-school programs, such as a homework club for an hour each day. The staff understands that not all the children have a place to study at home. "We expect higher learning. If you don't expect anything from them, they are not going to give it to you," Larkins said.
George Washington does have a stable neighborhood - Pigtown - and while many children move in and out of the area, teachers say they have a core of children whose parents and grandparents have grown up in the area.
The Sun's analysis of scores shows students are stronger in math than reading in elementary school. In 17 school systems, there is a higher percentage of top-scoring students in math. Educators say that is likely because reading is a complex skill that takes longer to develop than early math.
The results are reversed in middle school, where more students scored advanced in reading.
"Math gets harder and more complex," said Williamson in Queen Anne's County. Students are learning pre-algebra and algebra, and the concepts get more difficult.
In Howard County, students do better in reading than math in both the elementary and middle grades, which Glascock believes is a reflection of the strong emphasis on language arts.
"There hasn't been the same emphasis on math," he said.
In Baltimore, the passing rate on the MSA has continued to increase over the years. Last year, 67 percent of all elementary students passed - but only 11 percent scored in the advanced level. Only four elementary schools had more than 35 percent of students with advanced scores, led by Roland Park and George Washington.
Burgess says she's stymied when colleagues ask why her school does so well. There is no newfangled curriculum, no special program.
"It sounds trite, but we went back to the basics," she said.
liz.bowie@baltsun.com
These tables show how many Baltimore-area students in grades 6 through 8 scored at advanced levels on the 2007 Maryland School Assessment. Scores are separated into three levels: basic, proficient and advanced. Proficient and advanced are considered passing scores, and advanced is the highest. The first three numeric columns show the total percentage of students in grades 6 through 8 who scored at advanced levels, followed by separate columns for reading and math. The last two columns show the actual number of advanced test scores in each subject. These are not official state tabulations - they were compiled by The Sun to show the overall performance of each school. Because some schools mix elementary grades, these reports show results for grades 6-8 only. For students in grades 3-5, see the accompanying elementary school report.
ONLINE: For detailed breakdowns by grade and subject for every school in Maryland, including a searchable database and downloadable reports, visit The Sun online at baltimoresun.com/msa.