Half the Anne Arundel students in third to eighth grade should meet advanced levels on state standardized tests within five years, the county school system says.
The goal comes as part of the system?s new strategic plan, meant to serve as a blueprint and a barometer of progress in academics, safety and other measures.
“The goals, targets and indicators set forth in this plan have been carefully designed to propel Anne Arundel County Public Schools to prominence in the state of Maryland and allow our stakeholders to monitor our progress toward that overarching goal,” Superintendent Kevin Maxwell said in an introduction to the plan.
By the end of the 2011-12 school year, school officials want 50 percent of all students in each student group, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind law, from third to eighth grade performing at the advanced level on the Maryland School Assessment in reading and math.
Of nine student groups, the Asian group had the highest achievement, with 41 percent performing at an advanced level in reading and 52 percent in math on the last MSA, according to the state Department of Education.
The nine categories ? grouping students by race, income, special needs and other factors ? were chosen because each must show adequate yearly progress, guidelines for school improvement, for a whole school to meet federal standards.
By the end of the 2011-12 school year, Anne Arundel?s plan also calls for 95 percent in each student group to successfully complete both semesters of Algebra I by the end of ninth grade.
The five-year plan also includes safety goals, such as reducing the number of expulsions among secondary students by 20 percent, from 399 in 2005-06 to 319 by 2011-12.
After more than an hour of discussion, the board approved the plan 7-1, with Eugene Peterson casting the dissenting vote.
