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Policy center praises strides by Pr. George’s schools
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Prince George’s County Public Schools leaders are “going in the right direction” in their efforts to turn around the system’s worst schools, Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, said Thursday.
Jenning’s comments came one day after the center issued a report on Maryland’s efforts to fix its schools that hadn’t been making the grade since the federal No Child Left Behind law was put in place.
During the 2006-07 academic year, 82 Prince George’s schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for results on NCLB exams, the report said. Of those, 11 schools were in the process of restructuring after five years of repeated failure.
This year, eight schools are in the process of restructuring, and a total of 68 failed to meet AYP, according to Maryland Department of Education data.
“It looks as if Prince George’s is going in the right direction,” Jennings said. “They’re taking this restructuring much more seriously.”
Jennings attributed part of the improvement to changes made by Superintendent John E. Deasy, who took over in May 2006. The report said the system had made strides in teacher and staff training. More resources are also being made available to the schools through new support and intervention programs.
“There’s a greater hope yet this year that they’ll be much more effective,” Jennings said.
But even as the district as a whole improved, the failure rate among some of its worst schools worsened, according to state data. There were two schools in the planning phase for restructuring after failing to meet AYP for four years during 2006-07, according to the center’s report. This year, there are 23 schools with restructuring plans in place, according to state data.
While Jennings acknowledged that there will always be schools that chronically underperform because of socioeconomic factors, Prince George’s schools spokesman John White said better overall results are proof that the system is making headway toward improving classroom instruction.
“Unless we can put a great teacher in front of every child in every classroom, we’re not providing what children need to meet those standards,” White said.
cmabeus@dcexaminer.com
