School system flunks reforms

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore’s school system has failed to meet provisions of a reform plan set by Maryland, according to a report given to Maryland’s Board of Education.

Under the 2003 plan, Baltimore promised to have all its teachers rated “highly qualified,” as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, by the current school year.

But only 42 percent of the city’s teachers met the criteria, said a report from state Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick.

Besides falling short in that area, Mrs. Grasmick said, the system failed to show that it is teaching students the information they must know to pass annual standardized tests.

Mrs. Grasmick said she will propose more “corrective actions” for the city schools to improve student performance.

No Child Left Behind requires states to impose reforms on school systems that don’t show adequate progress on standardized tests.

Baltimore is the only school system in Maryland requiring such intervention.

The law requires restructuring individual schools that continually post low test scores, which can involve replacing an entire school staff.

George Duque, a manager in the city schools’ human resources department, said 66 percent of the city’s classroom teachers are fully certified.

Not all of them are considered highly qualified, mostly because not all of them are teaching in their area of expertise.

System officials said they had cut the number of classrooms that are staffed by substitutes.

The number of teacher vacancies decreased from 140 in the fall to 40 in December, the officials said.

The Baltimore school system also recently presented an annual report of its finances and student performance.

State officials criticized city officials for saying their high school graduation rates for black and Hispanic students were higher than national averages.

Baltimore’s four-year graduation rate for black students is 58.7 percent, compared with a national average of about 50 percent.

“Where African-Americans are in this country is abysmal,” said board Vice President Dunbar Brooks, who is black. “So even if you’re over the national average, it still doesn’t sit well with me. Basically, 42 percent of kids that look like me are disappearing off the radar.”

The city’s graduation rate for Hispanics is 83.6 percent, but Hispanics make up only 2 percent of the system’s enrollment. Blacks make up 89 percent.