Winter Street Elementary School, which has a large number of at-risk students who have scored low on state assessment tests, will receive a $112,000 grant from the state to help it improve test scores, officials said.
Although Winter Street's scores in the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program have been low, they are improving.
The idea behind the Challenge School grant is to give Winter Street a "shot in the arm" so it can continue to progress, according to Theresa Flak, assistant superintendent for instruction.
"It gives them an opportunity to do things over and above what our budget can support," Flak said.
The composite score for the school's third-graders, which is the combination of scores in the different subject areas, is 29.6, said Jan Keefer, supervisor of statistical assessment.
Countywide, the composite score for the third-grade level is 41.9, Keefer said.
In reading, 31.4 percent of Winter Street's third-graders scored at the satisfactory level on MSPAP, according to the Maryland State Department of Education.
