Collaboration credited for test gains

Flintstone improved 19.8 percentage points from last year’s average of 62.9 percent to 82.7 percent in reading proficiency and up 25.4 percent to 84.8 percent from last year’s average of 59.4 percent in math proficiency.

‘‘I am so excited that I have goose bumps,” said Flintstone Elementary School Principal Sana D. Sims. ‘‘We have made great growth over the last seven years that I have been here. Next year our goal is to reach 90 percent for all areas of the MSA”.

Sims said the increase is the result of a collaborative effort among teachers in identifying individual students’ weaknesses and addressing those needs.

Potomac Landing Elementary and Avalon Elementary were the other south county schools that saw their students improve by 10 percentage points or more, with more than 80 percent of the students scoring as proficient in reading.

Potomac Landing’s reading scores improved from 78 percent last year to 88.6 percent this year and Avalon improved its reading scores, going from 70.7 percent to 84.2 proficient.

Avalon was one of only four schools in the county that saw students score 100 percent proficiency in a category, with its fifth grade scoring 100 percent in reading.

‘‘Our success is primarily based on a staff that has made significant gains through their collaborative efforts in teaching our students,” said Avalon Principal Dianne G. Bruce. She also said a Saturday morning tutorial helped students who struggled in areas of reading and math.

Brandywine and Skyline elementaries achieved success in math, with Brandywine improving 10.6 percentage points to 80.8 proficient and Skyline improving by 10.5 percent to 80.7 proficient.

Berkshire Elementary Principal Pearl Harmon said programs that unify the entire school community are essential if students hope to succeed.

‘‘Programs such as the extended learning program which reinforces reading comprehension and math skills and our very own principal book-of-the-month program which had the entire school reading one book a month led to success,” Harmon said. ‘‘Programs such as these bring the school together.”

Oxon Hill Middle School improved in reading proficiency by 12.7 percentage points from last year’s 52.5 to 65.2 percent and in math by 10.2 percentage points from 32.3 to 42.5 percent. Stephen Decatur Middle School improved in math by 14.7 percentage points to 52.4 percent from last year’s 37.7 percent.