CUMBERLAND — While the percentage of students in Allegany County who score at or above proficient on standardized tests has risen in recent years, the Allegany County Public School supervisor of assessments said they can do better.
Trina Simpson, who oversees all aspects of Maryland’s standardized testing program in the county, presented a report on the most recent set of scores at the Allegany County Board of Education meeting Tuesday that showed a 2.2% increase in English proficiency and a 3.3% increase in math proficiency from the year before.
“Sometimes these increments can seem small,” Simpson said. “They seem small, but they’re huge celebrations. Moving that ticker is … tough.”
Not only have students outperformed scores from previous years, they did better than half of Maryland’s other jurisdictions in English and better than 14 other jurisdictions in math.
Some 53% of students in the county met or surpassed proficiency in English while 28.8% met or surpassed proficiency in math, meaning Allegany County Public Schools outperformed the state’s overall averages, which were 50.8% and 26.5%, respectively.
Despite performing better than the Maryland average, Simpson said the school system wants to improve those numbers, especially looking at the scores on a class-by-class basis, especially middle and high school math classes.
“These are — even though many above the state average — just low,” Simpson said. “We are not satisfied with that.”
However, Simpson is glad to see general improvements across the board.
“We are definitely moving in the right direction,” Simpson said. “We do think really instilling those solid reading or math skills, gathering the proficiency at an early age and keeping them is most important.”
Simpson encouraged parents to actively engage with their children’s academic growth across all subjects by reading to them.
Board member Max Green agreed.
“How can we improve our kids’ math, science or social studies, if that’s not our area of expertise?” Green said.
“Reading really is the key.”
While the board and school system would like to improve, Green said that he does not think standardized testing is an indicator of success, but a tool for the school system to use for improving how schools set their students up for success.
“These tests can be stressful for students,” Green said. “This is not an assessment of their skills or readiness for success, for anything. This is a point-in-time marker that we use to inform how our programs are performing and where those gaps are as best as possible.”
Recognition
Teachers and principals from schools affected by flash flooding in May were recognized upon receiving a governor’s citation for their dedication to student safety during the catastrophe.
The Allegany County Education Association, which advocates for educators in the county, wanted to find a way to honor the staff from Westernport Elementary, George’s Creek Elementary, Westmar Middle and Mountain Ridge High School for their courage that day, association President Kimberly Sloane said.
“These dedicated employees went above and beyond their duties for their students and communities, guiding their students all to safety and keeping watch into the night until it was no longer needed,” Sloane said. “They were courageous in the face of danger, as many of them watched the rising water consume their own personal vehicles in the parking lot, knowing that their homes may also be affected.”
The association decided they needed a high level of recognition,” Sloane said.
“On their behalf, we reached out to the office of Gov. (Wes) Moore, and he happily granted a governor’s citation to honor the employees and staff and members of ACEA,” Sloane said.
Moore, Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller and Maryland’s Secretary of State Susan C. Lee signed the citation.
“Be it known because of your demonstration of high integrity and ability meriting our great trust and respect, we are most pleased to award you the governor’s citation in appreciation of your outstanding services to the citizens of this state,” the citation read.