Nearly 84 percent of elementary and middle schools in Maryland this year avoided harsh consequences by reaching rising reading and math standards mandated by the No Child Left Behind law, according to data released Thursday.

The standards are set by the state to give schools a pace that would lead them to satisfy the trademark education law of President Bush’s administration. Every student must hit 100 percent proficiency on the tests by 2014.

About 4 percent more schools met adequate yearly progress compared with last year, according to the Maryland State Department of Education data.

“I’m very pleased,” state schools superintendent Grasmick said. “We have a target which is accelerating every single year, and so it’s higher, and yet we have fewer schools in ‘school improvement.’” 

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Grasmick attributed the improvements to state curriculum, more highly qualified teachers and the early childhood program that prepares students for elementary school.

Baltimore City schools earned their largest improvements on the Maryland School Assessment this year, and for the first time the majority of the schools made adequate yearly progress. This year, 82 schools — 54 percent of the city’s elementary and middle schools — reached the standard.

Mary Minter, the city’s chief academic office, said the teachers’ and students’ hard work over several years was paying off.

“Our schools are getting a lot better at what they’re doing,” Minter said. “Teachers are getting smarter, making smarter students. It’s not just something we did this year.”

Sharp-Leadenhall Elementary School is attended exclusively by special education students -- who have an inherent setback in reaching the rigid mandates — but the percentage of students there scoring proficient on the test shot up 22 percent this year, to 65 percent. The school made adequate yearly progress this year for the first time.

Still, 72 schools in the city failed to make adequate yearly progress two years in a row and were identified for improvement.

Schools that missed the mark by a slim margin will get more focused support starting this year. Maryland became one of six states in June that the federal government allowed to put schools in a “comprehensive needs” category if the general student population failed to meet adequate yearly progress, and others in a “focused needs” category if subgroups in the school — including special education and minority students — failed to meet the mark.

“It’s a waste of resources and waste of effort to use a scattered approach when you need to focus,” Grasmick said.

Carroll County was one of seven districts in the state and the only in the Baltimore area where all schools reached adequate yearly progress.

Teachers analyzed data to find the academic areas in which different students most needed help, and the county worked to align instruction with statewide curriculum, said Gregg Bricca, the school system’s director of accountability and research.

“All schools face different challenges,” Bricca said. “ ... I know what we need to focus on, and our schools know we need to focus on students with special needs — we need to individualize instruction.”

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com