Area schools optimistic after results from MSA

Administrators pleased with state testing progress

MLK and Paint Branch, along with Cherokee Lane Elementary in Adelphi, were all on alert after missing their AYP targets last school year. A school is placed into school improvement if it does not meet AYP two years in a row.

MLK saw jumps in the percentage of students in both grades who tested into the advanced and proficient levels in both reading and math.

While schools will not find out if they met AYP for a few more months, MLK principal Robin Wiltison said she was pleased with the results.

‘‘Isn’t that awesome?” she said. ‘‘I’m very excited and very encouraged. The overall environment in the building leads to students wanting to come to school and have a positive attitude about learning.”

The biggest jump at MLK was in seventh grade reading, where 85.3 percent of students tested into proficient or advanced — up from 75.1 percent last year.

Wiltison attributes much of the school’s success to the extended learning program implemented in September.

‘‘We had a $100,000 grant because we were an alert school,” she said. ‘‘We put that toward the program. We started it very early and it affected the kids.”

The extended learning program provided after-school instruction sessions with a teacher and a small group of students.

Paint Brach was almost the exact opposite of MLK, with percentages of proficient and advanced students dropping in every grade.

The two biggest drops were in sixth grade math where the percentage dropped from 68.4 to 35 and in fourth grade reading where the percentage dropped from 78 to 51.2.

The only increase seen at Paint Branch was a four-percent increase in fifth grade math.

‘‘There will be a focus in the area of math for the coming year,” new Paint Branch principal Jay Teston said. ‘‘We will be diligent in implementing the school system’s initiatives.”

Teston said he plans to implement ‘‘project-based learning” which will help the school target struggling students and help improve their test scores.

Cherokee Lane Elementary saw drops in third and sixth grade, but improvements in fourth and fifth grades. Principal Jack D. St. Clair declined to comment on the school’s performance.

Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi and High Point High School in Beltsville are currently in the restructuring planning phase of school improvement.

Buck Lodge’s scores improved in all areas. High school results will be out later this month.

Calverton Elementary, which is not on school improvement, saw a rise in percentages in every grade except sixth.

Principal Mary Tschudy said that she is happy with the initial results but maintains that there is more to evaluating students than just test scores.

‘‘We were pleased with what our students had done,” she said. ‘‘But remember, this is one picture of what we’ve done. It’s one test in one category. You have to look at it as one test.”

Tschudy said that over the next week she will break down the test results with the staff to see how the school can improve.

‘‘We have to ask ourselves four questions,” she said. ‘‘What do we want our children to learn? How will we know if they’ve learned it? What will we do if they don’t and what will we do if they do?”

E-mail Jonah Schuman at jschuman@gazette.net.