Prince George’s County Public Schools’ test scores improved for the third year in a row as the county works towards its yearly goal of meeting AYP.
“Over the past few years, our students, teachers, and administrators have demonstrated their pursuit of steady progress,” said Verjeana M. Jacobs, chairwoman of the Prince George’s County Board of Education, in a statement. “I commend our teachers for their dedicated work and our students for meeting their academic goals as we continue to improve teaching and learning.”
According to the release, 84 percent of fifth-graders and 83 percent of fourth-graders are reading at a proficient or advanced level. Eighth-graders improved four percentage points from last year to 71 percent.
The improvements were not lost on Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, who said this is very positive news given his administration’s priority to revamp the county’s school system.
“These results demonstrate the extraordinary effort, sacrifice, and discipline the entire school system, supported by the Board of Education, dedicates to our County students,” Baker said in a statement. “As a public school parent, and as County Executive, I am very proud of everyone’s hard work and I continue to champion educational improvements in Prince George’s County.”
Woodridge Elementary School in Hyattsville made the biggest leap in reading scores going from 74.2 percent advanced or proficient in 2010 to 90.8 percent in 2011. Lincoln Public Charter made the largest leap in math going from 42.6 percent advanced or proficient in 2010 to 55.8 percent in 2011.
However, as illustrated with the scores at Lincoln Public Charter, eighth-grade African-American students in the county continue to struggle with math. Black students are only working at a 41 percent advanced or proficient level at math, 25 percentage points lower than the state average.
Those numbers denote that the county still has a ways to go in catching up with the rest of the state, but Prince George’s County Public Schools Superintendent William Hite said he’s pleased with the progress the county has already made.
“While there is still much more work ahead, I am proud of the progress we are making in our school district,” Hite stated. “Not only are we increasing our overall performance, we are reducing gaps in achievement between African American and White students as well as our Hispanic and White students.”
The county’s fifth-graders performed the best in the reading category, while the county’s fourth-graders performed the best in math. Eighth-graders finished last in both categories.
The only decline came in the sixth-grade reading category. Those students’ scores declined three percentage points from 2010 to 78 percent.
