Baltimore County schools haven?t done it. Howard County schools are still working on it. Some city schools have never even had a quarter of students reach No Child Left Behind standards.
But at Ocean City Elementary, everyone has.
The much-debated No Child Left Behind Act, which President Bush signed into law in 2002, requires every student by 2014 to be proficient in reading and math on state standardized tests. All of the nearly 200 third- and fourth-grade students who last year took the Maryland State Assessment at Ocean City Elementary School earned a proficient score. It was the only school in the state to achieve 100 percent proficiency.
Teachers chalk up the school?s success to communication with parents, high behavioral and academic expectations, and a passion for education.
“Lots of folks come here and think we have some type of magic formula,” said Principal Irene Kordick. “It?s nothing fancy.”
When parents drop their children off at the school, teachers open car doors, greet the kids with a “good morning” and expect one in return. Students sit up straight at their desks, make eye contact when speaking to their teachers and are expected to talk in complete sentences.
“If you walked into my room and I just got a new student, you could pick out that student,” said first-grade teacher Wendy Macrides. New students, she said, may slouch in their seats or daydream.
Expecting such behavior creates an environment in which everyone can learn, and teachers say they take their cue from Kordick, a Munich, Germany, native who didn?t learn to read until the fifth grade.
Kordick and her family moved to Cleveland soon after the end of World War II, subjecting her to ridicule from classmates because of her German roots. To do book reports, her sister read her the summary on the cover.
“That?s my passion: Making sure what happened to me won?t happen to someone else,” Kordick said. She added: “I just don?t believe that I was that dumb and that everyone like me can?t learn either; someone didn?t teach us.”
The school, nestled in a quiet neighborhood off Route 50 in West Ocean City, enrolls about 570 students from prekindergarten through fourth grade. About 40 don?t primarily speak English, and 134 come from low-income families.
Before the school year even starts, teachers call parents to meet them and their children.
Teachers call parents an average of once a month during the school year, but if the parents can?t be reached, it?s not unusual for a teacher to go to a parent?s workplace. Teachers have even gone to restaurants where a parent waits tables to discuss a child?s school performance or attendance, said Linda McGean, the guidance counselor.
The school and each teacher also send weekly newsletters to parents, and teachers from each grade level meet every week to talk about ways to better teach or motivate students.
“The students will never say, ?I can?t do that,? ” said Julie Brown, head of the school?s Parent-Teacher Association. “Everything is planned. They know what to expect when they take the [Maryland State Assessment].”
To relieve pressure on less successful students, teachers pair them up with advanced students, allowing the former to learn with another classmate and gain confidence.
When they do well, students may add a link to a construction paper chain that hangs from the ceiling, have a pizza party or, in the case of one class, make their teacher do cartwheels.
“I like all the teachers because they make learning so fun,” said 9-year-old Sara Mitrecic, a third-grade student.
A day before school let out for summer, several kindergarten students were getting their faces painted at an outdoor party. The kindergartners said they weren?t looking forward to summer break ? they wanted to stay in school.
This year?s state assessment results are expected out in mid-July, and Kordick said school staff are eagerly awaiting the scores. But no matter the outcome, it won?t change the way they do things.
“We don?t do all these things to get high test scores,” McGean said. “We get high test scores because we do all these things.”
