Berwyn Heights, Greenbelt see MSA scores improve

Students scoring at the advanced and proficient levels increased throughout Prince George’s County in all grades and subjects.

However, scores for third grade reading fell for all area elementary schools compared to last year. Berwyn Heights Elementary had a 0.5 percent decrease and Greenbelt Elementary saw a 2.4 percent decrease. Springhill Lake Elementary had scores fall the most — by 16 percent — since 2007.

Greenbelt Elementary School scored 16.9 percent higher in fifth grade reading, but also saw decreases in third and sixth grade reading and math. Third grade math proficiency went down .6 percent and reading 2.4 percent while sixth grade math proficiency went down 7.4 percent and reading 2.1 percent. Greenbelt Elementary Principal Kimberly Seidel said she was happy with her school’s improvement and hoped to continue toward better scores each year.

‘‘Greenbelt Elementary is continuing to move forward with success and academic achievement and striving toward excellence as we did last year,” Seidel said.

Seidel credited the school’s success to hard work by parents and teachers.

‘‘All students should be continuing to make academic gains every year,” Seidel said. ‘‘Parents and our community work really hard to support our school as well as teachers who are dedicated to working diligently to make sure each student who is challenged academically continues to excel.”

Springhill Lake Elementary school saw a 4.4 percent increase in third grade math, a 10.6 percent increase in fourth grade math, a 6.1 percent increase in fourth grade reading, an 8.6 percent increase in fifth grade math, and a 22.3 percent increase in fifth grade reading. The only decrease the school saw was the 16 percent decline in third grade reading scores.

Springhill Lake Elementary Principal Linda Sherwood credited improved reading scores to Toolkit Strategies, a group of teaching consultants that came into the school to train all third, fourth and fifth grade teachers in reading comprehension.

She attributed low reading scores in third grade to a transient population as a result of students coming from Springhill Lake apartment complex, and the inability to track them for six years, Sherwood said.

‘‘In a school like ours, we don’t have a lot of longevity with kids,” Sherwood said. ‘‘We are not able to monitor growth for individual kids based on our school. They are coming from all over.”

Berwyn Heights Elementary School scores showed decreases only in third grade reading and sixth grade math. The greatest jump was in fifth grade reading, which increased 22.1 percent.

Greenbelt Middle School saw better scores than last year in all grades and subjects. The largest increases were in sixth grade math — 30.4 percent—and sixth grade reading — 19.2 percent. Seventh-graders did well, too, with more than half of the class scoring an advanced or proficient score on reading and math.

E-mail Kristi Tousignant at ktousignant@gazette.net.