School officials from both Montgomery and Prince George’s counties were claiming victory Wednesday when the state released lists of schools making adequate yearly progress, in accordance with federal No Child Left Behind Act requirements.

The state says a school has made adequate yearly progress when students in all subgroups — including divisions by race, special education needs, limited English proficiency and economically disadvantaged student categories — are successful in attaining Maryland targets for reading and math skills.

“I think the [Prince George’s and Montgomery county] school systems have done a very good job of concentrating efforts on those schools that need it,” Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, told The Examiner.

More Montgomery County elementary and middle schools successfully met state goals for reading and mathematics than last year. Out of Montgomery’s 129 elementary schools, 124 made adequate yearly progress, eight more than last year. The county’s middle schools saw 27 of 38 schools achieving state goals, up from 15 last year.

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“There’s no one single reason [for the change],” MCPS spokesman Brian Edwards said. “We have been concentrating on improving middle schools over the past several years. We have a good curriculum, good teachers in the classroom, and there is an achievement steering committees in certain schools that look at different instructional strategies to help teachers improve their instruction to different groups of students.”

However, six Montgomery County schools entered “School Improvement” status for the first time this year, compared with only four Prince George’s County schools.

Schools are put on the “improvement” list when they fail to meet state standards for two consecutive years. Schools on the list must write a plan explaining how they intend to address the achievement problem, according to the state Department of Education. If a school is classified as a Title I — or “high poverty” — school, parents can transfer their children to a better-performing school in the system.

Prince George’s County Schools officials said they were pleased that only four new schools were added to the improvement list compared with last year, when 14 schools were added. Also, 11 schools that had been on the improvement list made the necessary progress to be removed.

“There has been a very comprehensive support program put in place to help students who were struggling prior to last school year, and many of the new initiatives that began implementation last school year have shown positive results,” Prince George’s schools spokesman John White said.

Schools Singled out as needing improvement

» Montgomery County: Benjamin Banneker Middle School, Briggs Chaney Middle School, Gaithersburg Middle School, Lakelands Park Middle School, Neelsville Middle School, Newport Mill Middle School

» Prince George’s: Carmody Hills Elementary School, Ridgecrest Elementary School, William W. Hall Elementary School, Isaac J. Gourdine Middle School

kmiller@dcexaminer.com

dfowler@dcexaminer.com