More Md. schools meet federal 'No Child' standards

By Liz Bowie Sun reporter
7:32 PM EDT, August 14, 2008

A greater percentage of Maryland's elementary and middle schools met federal achievement standards than in recent years, even as the state raised the bar by requiring more students in each school to pass the yearly tests in reading and math.

Education officials Thursday released the state's annual report of school progress under the No Child Left Behind act, with about 84 percent meeting targets. Maryland put 169 of 1,129 elementary and middle schools on a list of schools that need improvement, compared with 176 the year before.

In seven school systems -- including Carroll County -- every school met the standards.

But the state's new way of categorizing schools also illuminated the entrenched failure at 59 of the state's troubled schools, many in Baltimore and Prince George's County. Those schools have failed to meet the standards for at least five years in a row and some for as much as a decade despite repeated attempts at reform.

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