2010 MSA Results Show Gains By Most Wicomico Elementary And Middle Schools

Opportunities for Improvement Remain

Results from the 2010 administration of the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) show that many Wicomico students and schools continue to meet the annual targets for higher performance, but some schools and subgroups struggled to make progress.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Fredericksen told the Wicomico County Board of Education Tuesday that this year’s MSA results show that most schools are moving toward the goal of having 100 percent of students scoring proficient or advanced by 2014.

He was delighted to announce that Salisbury Middle School has exited the School Improvement Process. With a great deal of hard work by students and staff, the school achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years and is no longer in School Improvement with the state.

Wicomico made gains overall in the percent proficient/advanced for Math MSA in grades 3, 5, 6 and 8, with a significant increase in Math MSA proficient scores in grade 6. The African-American subgroup made gains on the Math MSA in grades 3, 6 and 8, with a significant increase in grade 6.

The percent of students receiving Special Education services who scored at the proficient/advanced level for the Reading MSA increased in grades 4 and 6, and for the Math MSA in grades 6 and 7. The FARMS (Free and Reduced Meals) subgroup made Math MSA gains in grades 3, 5, 6 and 8, with significant increases in grades 3 and 6.

As part of the ongoing effort to ensure that schools help students improve their performance on MSA and that schools meet AYP, Central Office supervisors have been assigned responsibility for specific elementary and middle schools. The supervisors will work closely with the administrators and teachers at those schools to support progress.

“In general, we are making good progress on the MSA,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “As we continue to move toward the 2014 deadline of having all students score at the proficient or advanced level, we are going to work every day to meet that challenge.”

While most Wicomico elementary and middle schools made AYP, these schools did not:

Wicomico Middle did not meet AYP due to Reading MSA and Math MSA scores for all students and the African-American, FARMS and Special Education subgroups. Wicomico Middle, a Priority Comprehensive Needs School, is now in Year 4 of the School Improvement Process, The school must work this year to prepare an Alternative Governance Plan for submission to the Maryland State Department of Education. (Schools that reach Year 5 must implement the Alternative Governance Plan.)

Bennett Middle did not meet AYP due to scores on the Reading MSA for all and the subgroups for African-Americans, Hispanics, FARMS, Special Education and Limited English Proficiency, and due to scores on the Math MSA for the subgroups for African-Americans, FARMS, Special Education and Limited English Proficiency. Bennett Middle is in Year 1 of School Improvement as a Developing Comprehensive Needs School.

Two primary-grade schools, Charles H. Chipman Elementary and Fruitland Primary, did not meet AYP based on their former students’ performance on MSA. Former Chipman students did not achieve high enough results on the Reading MSA in the Special Education subgroup, while Fruitland Primary’s former students did not achieve the required results in the African-American and Special Education subgroups for Reading and the African-American subgroup for Math. These schools will receive local attention and are not in the state School Improvement Process.

Glen Avenue Elementary did not make AYP due to scores in the Special Education subgroup for both Math and Reading. The school will receive local attention and is not in School Improvement.
Pittsville Elementary and Middle did not make AYP due to Reading MSA scores for the African-American subgroup. The school will receive local attention and is not in School Improvement.

Prince Street Elementary did not make AYP due to Reading and Math MSA scores for all and the subgroups for African-American, FARMS and Special Education. The school will receive local attention and is not in School Improvement.

The 2010 report on AYP status of elementary and middle schools, based on MSA results, is “a big concern to us. We want all of our schools and all of our students to succeed,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “We are going to take no excuses. We are going to do whatever it takes to succeed with these students.”

AYP information for high schools and for the county school system as a whole will be available later this summer. Dr. Fredericksen said he is very pleased that, for the second straight year, Wicomico ensured that every senior who met the state’s other graduation requirements (for credit hours and service-learning) also met the Maryland requirement of passing the High School Assessments (HSAs).