Reading plan begun in '98 may be a model for state
Test results are due out for the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program test this week, and top educators hope to see an improvement in eighth graders' reading scores. What they're saying makes it look as if the Washington County school board's plan for improving reading skills is something other systems should look at.
Two years ago this system made reading instruction the system's top priority, adding reading teachers in elementary and middle schools. Last year, the county schools improved overall for the sixth straight year, moving form No. 13 to eighth among the 24 systems in Maryland. Reading scores were up as well, with third and fifth graders here ranking sixth and fifth respectively in the state.
What state officials worry about, however, is a statewide leveling off of reading scores for eighth graders. In the past six years, statewide reading scores have only increased by one point, as opposed to a nine-point jump in the state average of all other parts of the test.