Baltimore County schools Superintendent Joe Hairston said Tuesday night that he would discontinue the mandatory use of a complex student grading system while a committee continues to work on issues raised by parents, teachers and lawmakers, who have been highly critical of the initiative.

Hairston acknowledged the tensions that have arisen since his office announced last month that all teachers must use the program. "I am mostly concerned about the community. What has happened in the last two months is not reflective of the community," he said at a school board meeting.

In the past two months, the decision to make the use of the Articulated Instruction Module - also known as AIM -mandatory has brought an overwhelmingly negative response from teachers, who said Hairston should give up the effort because it is burdensome and redundant.

Raymond Lorion, dean of Towson University's College of Education, said AIM's progress reports had the potential to be useful, particularly in schools where students are having difficulties. But he said that some "technical difficulties" still affected the program, which has been developed by a longtime county schools administrator who has a copyright on it. Lorion had headed a committee of principals, administrators, teachers and parents appointed to quickly look at the issues raised by critics.

School board members seemed divided on use of AIM. While Meg O'Hare said she thought it would be useful in ensuring that African-American students were at the same levels as other students, other members said they found AIM confusing and not easy for parents to understand.

"This has been a very difficult issue for me," said board member Lawrence Schmidt, adding that he was glad Hairston was not going forward at this time.

Two board members said they had read parts of the progress-reporting system and found it impossible to understand. The meeting was packed with teachers, some carrying signs opposing the reporting system. "We are pleased that it is discontinued at this time, but we just don't know what 'at this time' means," said Cheryl Bost, head of the teachers union. "Will this be made mandatory? We hope never."

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