Test Scores Improve in '05

School Test Scores Improve

By Clare Whitbeck

LEONARDTOWN - The St. Mary's County Public School System has announced the results of its elementary and middle school 2005 testing on the Maryland State Assessment.

At the elementary and middle schools, positive gains were noted in mathematics. Across all grade levels, students demonstrated an average increase of 6 percentage points.  

At the elementary and middle schools, positive increases were also noted in the content area of reading, with an average increase of 4.1 percentage points.  

Special education students demonstrated some of the highest increases when compared to other subgroups.  In reading, the number of students who scored at the proficiency level increased an average of 17.2 percentage points, with a 23.9 percentage point gain in grade 4.   

Free And Reduced Meals (FARMS) students posted significant gains at all grade level for both reading and mathematics.  

African American students continue to demonstrate improvement in reading and mathematics. The achievement gap between African American and white students is narrowing in reading, particularly at grades 4, 5, 6, and 8.  In mathematics, the gap narrowed in grades 4 and 8.

      “Each year the bar is raised and we are making significant gains,” said Dr. Lorraine Fulton, Interim Superintendent of Schools. . “The teachers in the classrooms and the staff who support them are the defining difference.  We are also grateful to have a supportive community that provides us with the needed resources through the St. Mary's County Bridge to Excellence Joint Resolution.”

Statewide, system, and local school data are now available on the Maryland State Department of Education's report card web site, www.mdreportcard.org.