Two Severn Schools Meet AYP Requirements After Missing Out in 2010

Given annually to students in grades three through eight, the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) test is designed to measure a student’s proficiency in reading and math. It was revealed Wednesday that two Severn elementary schools scored high enough in 2011 to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals after failing to meet them the year before.

met its AYP goals after failing in the area of reading proficiency among special education students in 2010. fell short in 2010 with its math proficiency among special education students. 

However, fell to an opposite fate after it passed the AYP in 2010 but missed targets this year in the area of reading proficiency among African-American, free and reduced meals and special education students. The school is now in a local monitoring phase. 

Old Mill Middle School North and South both failed to make the AYP goals. For Old Mill Middle North, it's the second year in a row the school has come up short.

In addition to Van Bokkelen Elementary and Old Mill Middle South, other county schools in the local monitoring phase are Broadneck, George T. Cromwell, Glen Burnie Park, Hebron-Harman, High Point, Jacobsville, Maryland City, Oakwood, Rippling Woods and Seven Oaks elementary schools; and Magothy River Middle School.

It is the first time many of these schools have not made AYP but all of them have made AYP for at least the last two years, said schools spokesman Bob Mosier.

If schools continue to miss targets, they advance to other phases of the process until they make AYP two years in a row. The final phase, after two levels of school improvement and corrective action, is restructuring.

Eleven schools that did not make AYP this year are in various phases of the School Improvement Process: Arundel, Chesapeake Bay, MacArthur, Meade, George Fox, Marley, Corkran, Old Mill North, Annapolis and Brooklyn Park middle schools and the J. Albert Adams Academy special school.

The MSA was created to line up with federal guidelines for the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act and all schools are expected to be 100 percent proficient by 2014.

Throughout the county, schools saw MSA scores rise across student groups, but the number of elementary and middle schools meeting state AYP targets fell for the second year in a row, according a press release from Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). The release is based on data from the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) that was made available Wednesday.

Twenty-four of the 100 elementary, middle, charter and alternative learning schools in Anne Arundel County did not make AYP this year. Seven of the county’s 19 middle schools made AYP this year, which is an increase of two more schools than in 2010. However, only 67 of the county’s 78 elementary schools made AYP in 2011—five fewer than last year.

“The standards continue to rise, and as the proficiency standard approaches 100 percent, we are seeing schools that had long been above the bar fall below it,” AACPS Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell said in the release. “That is the case not just in our county, but across the state. The challenge for us, and for all districts, is to address the individual issues that exist at schools quickly so that our schools do not move into the School Improvement Process, but rather move above the bar for good.”

According to the release, there were sharp gains among special education students with middle school passing scores rising 5.7 points in reading and 5.3 points in math, and elementary school passing scores rising by 3.4 points in math and 2 points in reading.

"Our school system's dedication to maximizing meaningful access and promoting accelerated learning through differentiated instruction is evident in these assessment results," said AACPS Director of Special Education Mary Tillar. "Our educators and employees should be commended for their efforts in promoting educational excellence by believing in the unlimited potential of every single child.”

Glen Burnie Patch editor Maya Prabhu contributed to this article.