Bowie schools give strong performance on MSA tests

Individual attention, parental support identified as key to success

But, as Bowie school administrators such as Whitehall Elementary Principal Jerenze Campbell point out, curricula and staff initiatives are standard throughout the county.

Teachers are given equal time for collaborative planning, and principals throughout the county note students’ responses and reactions in the classroom. This allows principals to gauge to what extent the students understand the information, Yorktown Elementary Principal Cheryl Hughes said.

Nonetheless, it is up to staff members to identify which students are struggling, and means to accomplish this include analyzing test scores and monitoring classroom progress. Students are divided into small groups based on achievement in a particular subject, Campbell said.

Kathleen Kurtz, regional assistant superintendent for region four said successful teachers spend time looking at data to ‘‘create safety nets in order to address the weak areas,” which could include extra reading or math help for students who need it.

Teachers need to ‘‘constantly pay attention, [assessing] how [students are] answering questions and what they’re saying about what they’re reading,” Tulip Grove fourth grade teacher Renee Roth said. Teachers communicate with one another to share teaching styles, she said.

Schools also add programs where necessary, and help is often provided by parent volunteers.

In Bowie, parents have applied for grant money to put together special events for their children to make up for a lack of regular art, music or language programs.

Parent Teacher Association volunteer Donna Fowler said a multicultural night last year ‘‘definitely helped build community and make culturally competent students.”

Proximity to the schools allows feedback between parents and staff.

In addition to help from parents, a correlation between family wealth and success in school could help explain the high scores in Bowie. In 2000, the average household income was $76,778 in Bowie and $55,256 in Prince George’s County.

Megan O’Neil-Haight, a finance educator at the University of Maryland, said a recent study by New York University researchers found that experiences of less wealthy families, including food insecurity and stress, had a negative effect on student performance.

In order to provide additional structured activities for students, schools can apply for funding for before and after school programs. The county also pays for various instructional programs based on the specific needs of schools, administrators said.

Samuel Ogle Middle School is an Advancement Via Individual Determination Center. The program is run by a non-profit and offers rigorous courses on subjects such as Algebra that other schools do not offer, Principal Kathleen Brady said.

‘‘Education has evolved over the last few years,” Campbell said, indicating that staff members are taking a closer look at individual students.

He stressed the importance of good teachers and said principals can recommend teachers to the county for hire. ‘‘Good people stand out in my mind.”

Joni Graham, who has sent seven children to Tulip Grove, said the assessment test is not a fair indicator of a child’s skill level but that teachers work to make special accommodations for their students.

‘‘One of my children is not the best test taker, so the teacher saw that [and] arranged to read the test to my child,” Graham said.