School Information: | Student Ethnicity: | |||||||||||||||||
Rock Hall Elementary 5608 Boundary Ave Rock Hall, MD 21661 (410) 639-2265 Grade Range: PK-4 Enrollment: 206 Full-Time Teachers: 13 Students per Teacher: 16 |
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Test | Score | State-Wide Ranking | County-Wide Ranking |
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Standard Ranking | 88.3 | 753/884 ![]() | 4/7 ![]() |
Gr 3 Read Adv | 7.0 | 715(T)/873 ![]() | 4/4 ![]() |
Gr 3 Math Adv | 11.9 | 713(T)/873 ![]() | 4/4 ![]() |
Gr 3 Read Prof | 83.7 | 501/873 ![]() | 4/4 ![]() |
Gr 3 Math Prof | 78.6 | 607/873 ![]() | 4/4 ![]() |
Gr 4 Read Adv | 19.4 | 476(T)/872 ![]() | 2/4 ![]() |
Gr 4 Math Adv | 50.0 | 303(T)/872 ![]() | 2/4 ![]() |
Gr 4 Read Prof | 100.0 | 1(T)/872 ![]() | 1/4 ![]() |
Gr 4 Math Prof | 93.3 | 326(T)/872 ![]() | 2/4 ![]() |
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Much Better Than Adequate Progress, Apr 20, 2006 |
By Karin Chenoweth http://www.achievementalliance.org/files/rockhall.pdf Rock Hall, on the Eastern Shore in Kent County, has about 200 students, 60 percent of whom meet the federal standards for free and reduced-price meals. Seventy-five percent of the students are white, 25 percent African American, and 21 percent of the students are identified as having disabilities. Last year, 100 percent of the fourth-graders met state reading standards (28 percent exceeded them) and 100 percent of the third-graders met state math standards (40 percent exceeded them). Bess Engle, principal: "The first year Maryland administered state tests, in 1992, we were not prepared. It was the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP), which required a lot of reading, writing, and even some group work. We had kids throwing up in buckets, we had teachers crying. "When the scores came back, we were at the bottom of the state. "That experience taught us to raise expectations. I still think that MSPAP was too arduous for young children, but it tuned us in to the fact that young children can read and write much more than we ever thought possible. One purpose for state assessments is to raise expectations. "Today, our students perform at the same level as students in the wealthiest schools in Maryland. "To get the results we have gotten, you have to begin with a caring staff, and they need to know a great deal. My teachers are highly trained in reading instruction. They go to conferences and learn the most effective teaching methods to teach reading using motor skills, sight, sound and touch. My teachers reach out and use all the senses, all the talents. "We don't prepare specially for the new Maryland state tests, the MSAs, which replaced the old MSPAPs. We decided to focus on reading and writing, and we teach science and social studies as part of that. I'm a big believer in theme teaching, so if a teacher is teaching the fiction novel Stone Fox, she will teach math, geography, history and writing related to the book. "Three years ago we became a full-inclusion school, meaning that our students with disabilities are fully included in regular classrooms. If you walked through our classrooms, I don't believe that you could determine which students have Aspergers, autism, chromosome defect, major behavioral concerns, incarcerated parents, or loss of a parent recently due to suicide, unless I indicated which children they are. The expectation is that there are no excuses. They're all children capable of learning. Our job is to teach them. "Equally important for every child are love, respect, and dignity. I feel that from the moment I greet children as they get off the bus in the morning, until they leave, that each child receives an abundance of these." |