The report says 92 percent of the cities have improved math scores in a majority of grades tested, and 80 percent have improved in reading. But Baltimore's improvement in middle-school math was not nearly so encouraging. And reading scores were flat over the seven years, according to the study. We're not talking about miraculous overnight changes here. Kids in the cities remain far behind their suburban peers, and it will be years or decades before they catch up.
Racial disparities continue to be a major problem.
But this bit of progress occurred against great economic and social odds. Michael Casserly, the council's executive director and an author of the report, said his organization will conduct follow-up case studies to get a more precise idea of what's happening and why. The Great City study was a tricky one because it looked at how cities did in state testing, and there are 51 ways of measuring student performance in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Maryland, of course, uses primarily the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program, so Baltimore kids can't be compared to peers in, say, Richmond, who take the Virginia Standards of Learning tests. Teacher of the Year candidates applauded Maryland's 24 Teacher of the Year candidates came to Baltimore yesterday and were festooned with flowers, hugged by state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, photographed and fed at the Maryland Business Roundtable.