High schools use many tools to get off AYP list | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

Or perhaps it was the new computerized tutor that works with each individual student. But maybe it was all of those strategies working together that helped North County High School meet targets on standardized tests and remove it from a state watch list. It was the second consecutive year the school made the targets.

"The teachers and students worked very hard together," Principal Frank Drazan said yesterday.

North County, Glen Burnie and Annapolis high schools were on the list last year created under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Under the program, a certain percentage of students at each school must pass state standardized exams each year in algebra and English. Those standards, called Adequate Yearly Progress, will increase steadily until 2014, when every high school student must pass both tests.

Consequences for schools failing to make targets include being put on a state watch list and can lead to a state takeover if a school does not improve.

North County and Glen Burnie high schools were taken off the state watch list, but Chesapeake High School

- missing the AYP targets by a two-student margin - is now on the list with Annapolis High.

Whether a school makes AYP is largely affected by the annual High School Assessments. This year, North County saw improved scores in algebra and English - 36.8 percent passed the math test and 44.7 percent the English test, respectively - on the HSA.

Sam Salamy, principal at Glen Burnie, attributed his school's achievement to hard work, including emphasizing the importance of the assessments to students, working closely with the content teams for each of the test categories and giving students extra help.

"We're happy; we're very happy," he said last week.

Mr. Drazan attributed some of his school's success to Cognitive Tutor, a computer program the school has been using in math. Students answer questions and the program responds with hints if they get the question wrong.

"I think with (this program), we got a good bang for our buck," he said, comparing it to having a tutor for each student.

Teachers can monitor students' progress as they go, and they walk around the room to answer questions. Students use the computer lab for 20 minutes during each math class.

The program, which is used in all high schools, cost the school district a total of $370,248 this year, said Bob Mosier, county schools spokesman. That price covers the district for 4,200 students to use the program for five years.

In addition, North County English teachers have been working hard to make sure students focus on critical thinking. Scores on the standardized test in English increased even more than those in math.

"In the old days, people read the book and we talked about it," Mr. Drazan said.

The principal said he's not afraid of "teaching to the test," a frequent criticism of efforts to pass standardized exams, because students are tested on basic principles of the subject areas. If the students are taught algebra, the students will do well on that test, he explained.

North County teachers have focused on making sure their curricula are in line with that of the state as well.

"They've worked very hard at not just dealing with the test, but having kids learn and understand the material," Mr. Drazan said.

Despite their success, getting all students proficient by 2014 will be difficult but not impossible if it continues making progress.

"From a growth standpoint, we've (made targets) and we're going to continue to do better," he said.

Chesapeake High

This is the first year Chesapeake High has not made AYP.

Principal Patricia Plitt said the school missed the state's reading target in special education by two students.

"Special education is very difficult for all schools, and we've come close to not making it in the past," Ms. Plitt said. "To miss it by two students - it's very, very disheartening."

There was a similar reaction earlier this year when the AYP results came out for middle and elementary schools.

Brooklyn Park Middle School failed to meet targets by statistically less than two students this year. It's missed targets four of the last five years and it must make AYP targets for two consecutive years to be removed from the state watch list.

George Fox Middle, Meade Middle, Old Mill Middle North and North Glen Elementary missed targets this year and are in the monitoring category, meaning if they meet goals next year they'll be removed from the list.

Lindale and Marley middle schools made have to make targets again next year to be removed from the state watch list.

Kate Gilbert, performance director for both Chesapeake and Old Mill high schools, said she wants to focus on Chesapeake's entire reading program instead of just looking at the special education curriculum.

"We want to have all our children achieving at the highest level possible," she said.

Ms. Plitt said the school will concentrate on team teaching, which is pairing special education teachers with general curriculum teachers in the classroom.

It's not a new initiative - the county adopted co-teaching as a model several years ago, she said - but this is a more focused approach.

About 30 teachers are spending six weeks in training by working in pairs to figure out what's effective and what's not, Ms. Plitt said.

In the past, special education teachers would work with general curriculum teachers for a few days or weeks, but then never discuss what they learned, she said.

"This gets the teachers more focused on working together as a team," Ms. Plitt said. "They're able to dialogue about what's effective in a co-taught classroom."

The school also is focusing on keeping special education teachers in one subject all year long, all day long.

"It's very content driven when you get to high school, and it just got confusing," Ms. Plitt said of having special education teachers shift back and forth between school subjects. "A teacher won't be an English teacher and a science teacher at the same time."