Carroll County Sees Increase in Schools Failing State Assessment

Carroll County Public Schools saw the largest number of schools fail to make progress on the 2011 Maryland School Assessments, according to data released Wednesday by the Maryland Department of Education. 

Twelve county schools failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) this year compared to five schools in 2010.

“We’ve never had this number of schools not meet AYP,” said Greg Bricca, director of research and accountability for Carroll County public schools. “As the goal goes up we knew it would become more and more difficult.”

Ten of the schools, including three in the Eldersburg and Sykesville areas, fell short of meeting the goals because of the test results in special education. Those schools are: Carrolltowne Elementary, Winfield Elementary, Sykesville Middle, Elmer A. Wolfe Elementary, Mount Airy Middle, New Windsor Middle, North Carroll Middle, Shiloh Middle and Westminster East Middle.

Hampstead Elementary, New Windsor Middle and Westminster East Middle didn’t meet AYP because of the test scores for African-American students in the area.

“Every group has to meet the same percentage," said Bricca. "The challenge is that we don’t have that many students of the black demographic in the school system, so the results are on one or two students in a particular school.”

In addition, three schools didn’t meet the test requirements for students that receive free or reduced lunches. These schools are New Windsor Middle, Northwest Middle and Westminster East Middle. 

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, all students must be proficient in reading and math by 2014. In Maryland, schools administer the Maryland School Assessments in both reading and math in third through eighth grades.

In order to reach 100 percent proficiency, the number of students who improve must grow every year. Students are measured as a whole and as subgroups, which include race, special education, non-native English speakers and students who receive free and reduced price meals.

Schools with students who don't improve enough each year, as a whole or in subgroups, will fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

If a school fails to make AYP, it is required to make changes to improve scores, which can include school restructuring or staff changes. Maryland has adjusted the consequences for AYP since 2007, after discovering that of the schools that fell short that year, 45 percent were due to one subgroup.

Schools that enter AYP for one year will have to undergo an assessment of their performance but will not face serious consequences until they fail to make AYP for more than three years in a row.

In Maryland, scores grew or stayed the same when compared to 2010, with at least 70 percent of students in every grade scoring as proficient or advanced for 2011. Across Maryland, elementary school reading scores are almost at 90 percent proficient or advanced for 2011.

In Carroll County, reading scores are close to 92 percent across the board, showing that it’s not impossible to reach established proficiency goals, according to Bricca.

“When No Child Left Behind started everyone sort of balked at the thought that schools will reach 100 percent reading proficiency, but we’re already exceeding the 90 percent mark,” said Bricca.