Local schools were among the success stories as Baltimore County public schools showed modest gains this year in most categories on the annual Maryland State Assessments.
As part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the Maryland State Assessments are mandatory tests in reading and math administered to students in grades 3 through 8 each spring.
The federal law requires all children to achieve either proficient or advanced scores by 2014.
Despite the challenges involved, area principals spoke favorably of the assessments last week and said they are a useful tool for ensuring that the educational needs of each child are being met.
"I think it's a very fair test and a fair standard," said Terry McVey, who is entering her tenth year as principal of Hillcrest Elementary School, located at 1500Frederick Road.
"We work really hard at Hillcrest to understand the numbers and the information and then to drill all the way down to see what that means for individual students," she said.
This year, the school went up in most areas — with fourth-graders achieving 100 percent in reading and math, and third-graders achieving 100 percent in reading, McVey said.
"We were excited," she said.
Administrators at Hillcrest meet with teachers on a monthly basis to look at assessment data for students across the grade levels, McVey said.
"We're looking for trends," she said. "We're looking for students who maybe consistently are not doing well — we need to come up with another strategy for them — or we're looking at students who are doing very well and we need to take a look at enrichment opportunities for them."
Looking at that information is an ongoing process that involves teaching the curriculum and then assessing how well students have grasped it, McVey said.
"Through that process, we're looking at individual students, we're looking at assessment data for the entire grade level as a whole, and we're looking for information based on our subgroups," she said. "How well are our minority students doing? Our students in poverty? Our special education students?"
Though her school met AYP requirements, McVey said she also wants to study the numbers of students achieving advanced scores, a trend that has been growing at Hillcrest.
Goal oriented
Though Edmondson Heights Elementary School narrowly missed meeting AYP for the second year in a row, Principal Yasmin Stokes said she is confident her school can close that gap.
Stokes, who began her job at the beginning of July after serving as principal of Powhatan High School in Gwynn Oak for eight years, said she has already met with teachers in both reading and math.
"We had a huge turnout of teachers over here this summer," said Stokes about the reaction at her new school, at 1600 Langford Road.
"They care about the kids here," she said. "It's very evident to me in the short period of time that I've been in the school that they want to be successful, and it shows by them giving up their summer to come in for a full week of professional development.
"So I feel very hopeful that Edmondson Heights is going to be a successful school," she said.
When analyzing scores, Stokes said, she looks at how particular groups of students have progressed over time, as well as how classes of particular teachers perform from year to year.
In each category, Stokes said she likes to see at least a 10 percent jump from year to year.
She said she looks at how far away students with basic ratings are from becoming proficient and how far proficient students need to go to become advanced.
"I look at every single child," she said. "And then we put something in place for that particular child.
"You can't use a cookie-cutter formula to meet the needs of every child. It just doesn't work," she said. "We've got to look at their specific needs and then provide them with something that's going to help them be successful. Because, after all, isn't that what No Child Left Behind means?"
Southwest Academy also did not meet all of the AYP requirements while Catonsville Middle and Catonsville, Westchester, Woodbridge, Westowne and Johnnycake elementary schools did. Principals from those schools did not respond to requests for comment in time for this article.
Last year, Arbutus Middle School did not meet AYP requirements after it fell short in one category -- special education reading, said Principal Michelle Feeney.
But this year the school — which draws students from Catonsville and Arbutus — made AYP in all subgroups, she said.
"By the end of July, beginning of August, we'll know who the students are who need the extra support for the MSA skills and then we can make sure that we place those students strategically in classes in order to optimize the opportunity to help them achieve AYP next year," she said. "Because the benchmark is even higher next year, so we want to keep that moving forward.
"I think the impetus behind the MSA is that we want all students to achieve, so that's an important goal," Feeney said.
After receiving the test scores, student's previous-year teachers will speak to their new teachers to ensure students are properly placed and have the support they need, Feeney said.
Through collaborations with area elementary schools, she said, the school also gathers information on incoming students to plan for their needs even before they arrive.
Feeney said she thinks one of the positive benefits of the testing has been encouraging middle and high schools to focus on the individual student — a practice that historically was not as common in the upper grades as it was in elementary schools.
With social, emotional and academic transitions occurring, middle school is "really the proving ground for our kids," Feeney said.
"It's that crucial time when you have to reach the students," she said. "It's imperative that you reach the students."
The test scores are an important starting point. But educators cannot forget to teach the whole child and to incorporate skills that will make pupils lifelong learners and prepared to succeed in the 21st century where the ability to work collaboratively and use technology will be needed, she said.
"The test scores — that is the basic requirement," she said. "We also have to look beyond the test scores."
Feeney agreed that as percentages get closer to 100 percent proficiency, the harder it becomes to close the small gaps that remain.
"The great thing about that is it keeps us constantly focused on improving instruction and improving student engagement," she said. "It also makes sure that we're ensuring that the students get the best of the best of the curriculum.
"As a county and as a school, it keeps us on our toes and it makes sure that we have a very, very, very clear focus on what we're doing for our students."
Steady progress in county
From 2010 to 2011, the percentage of county students in advanced or proficient in reading showed:
• third-grade scores increased from 86.7 to 87.9 percent
• fourth-grade scores increased from 88.9 to 91 percent
• fifth-grade scores increased from 90.3 to 92.1 percent
• sixth-grade scores decreased from 84.4 to 82.3 percent
• seventh-grade scores increased from 80.3 to 83 percent
• eighth-grade scores increased from 81.3 to 83.6 percent.
During that same time period, the percentage of county students in advanced or proficient in math showed:
• third-grade scores increased from 87.3 to 89 percent
• fourth-grade scores increased from 91.8 to 93 percent
• fifth-grade scores increased from 84.2 to 84.4 percent
• sixth-grade scores increased from 76.5 to 79.5 percent
• seventh-grade scores increased from 71.3 to 72.7 percent
• eighth-grade scores decreased from 66.7 to 65.3 percent
This year, the county saw an increase in both reading and math scores for students in special education, as well as those with limited English proficiency and those receiving free or reduced-price lunches, said Charles Herndon, a spokesman for Baltimore County schools.
Noting that those are traditionally groups where the school system has not seen as much progress as it would like, Herndon said it was "particularly gratifying" to see their improved performance.
It's not an easy goal to meet — as often a small number of students in a particular subgroup can cause the entire school not to achieve the AYP rating.
"Very few things in life achieve 100 percent," Herndon said of the 2014 mandate.
"But it certainly is a goal and it's certainly one that we believe is worth pursuing, and giving everything we've got to do the best we can to get there," he said. "And that's something that we're going to continue to work towards."