MSA results soar in Laurel

If a school fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress in consecutive years, it is placed in school improvement, which results in state sanctions.

Harrison, which is in the restructuring planning phase of school improvement, showed leaps in both reading and math. The biggest jump was in third grade math, where 58.7 percent of third-graders scored in proficient or higher. In 2007, that percentage was 36.7.

‘‘I was ecstatic,” Principal Patricia Belgrave said upon learning the scores. ‘‘We made so much progress. When we were leaving here, we felt very good that the children had tremendous growth.”

Belgrave said that one of the primary reasons for the improvement was the implementation of a full-time reading specialist, Debbie Boyd, and an instructional reading coach, Rebecca Nichols.

‘‘The children’s attitude about reading changed remarkably,” Belgrave said. ‘‘They took reading very seriously this year.”

Montpelier Elementary School, which is not in school improvement, showed similarly large improvements from last year. Fifth grade reading displayed the most difference, with 62.2 percent of fifth-graders proficient or advanced in the subject in 2007 and 79.3 proficient or advanced this year.

Principal Carla Furlow credited the improvement to her faculty and staff.

‘‘We have very seasoned teachers,” she said. ‘‘You can’t put a price on that. If you have highly qualified teachers, you’re going to get results.”

The only area where Montpelier did not improve was in fourth grade math, where 85.3 percent of students tested at advanced or proficient levels, down from 92.8.

Oaklands Elementary School is in year two of school improvement because it failed to meet AYP last year after being in school improvement.

This year, only sixth-grade math and reading and third-grade reading posted declines. All other grades posted gains in both subjects.

Sixth-graders tested 66.1 percent proficient or advanced in math, down from 77.3 percent, while only 64.6 percent scored at least proficient in reading, down from 73.7 percent.

The most drastic improvement at Oaklands came in fifth grade, where 71.7 percent of students tested at proficient or advanced levels in math and 76.1 percent tested to those levels in reading.

Bond Mill Elementary School’s scores increased as well, with fifth grade reading seeing the biggest increase from 70.8 to 96.5 percent proficient or above.

‘‘We were real pleased with our performance,” said Principal Justin FitzGerald. ‘‘We increased across the board in all our subgroups and it’s the result of staff, students and parents working collectively on this goal that we’re all so extremely proud of.”

E-mail Anath Hartmann at ahartmann@gazette.net and Jonah Schuman at jschuman@gazette.net.

Staff writer Jeffrey K. Lyles contributed to this article.