Maryland statewide math scores drop dramatically since before the pandemic

Maryland’s public school students posted notably low pass rates on statewide math tests administered last spring, and surprisingly good scores on English language arts — a hint at the complexity of recovery in the first full year of teaching after the pandemic.

The tests, considered difficult, show that less than half of the students statewide in any grade are considered proficient in either English or math, though a larger percentage of students do well in English. In third grade, 45% of students passed the English test, up from 41% in 2019, the last time the full spring test was given before the pandemic was declared in March 2020. And a higher percentage of third, fourth, sixth and 10th graders across the state passed the English test than they did in 2019, suggesting that school systems more than made up for the learning loss in that subject.

That was not the case in math, for which performance worsened. For instance, 36% of third graders passed the math test in 2022 compared to 43% before the pandemic. And pass rates for seventh graders dropped nearly by half.

Maryland has released the results of statewide tests given in spring 2022. (Maryland State Board of Education)

Just 7% of eighth graders statewide passed the math test this year compared to 13% before the pandemic. The math scores in eighth grade are somewhat depressed because the highest-achieving math students are taking Algebra in eighth grade and so take the Algebra I test rather than the eighth grade math assessment.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

State School Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury said there has been a return back to pre-pandemic performance in English, but math will take longer.

“Math took the biggest nosedive during the pandemic,” Choudhury said in an interview. “What you are seeing with math is a very slow upward trend.”

Math is more dependent on learning concepts in order, Choudhury said, while English is not dependent on learning concepts sequentially. Other states across the nation are seeing the same trends in their post-pandemic learning, Choudhury said.

He attributed the stronger showing by Maryland students in English in some grades in 2022 over 2019 to two factors: The introduction of phonics-based reading instruction in some school districts, as well as more comfort with the testing.

Overall, the superintendent said, the student performance on the state tests is not acceptable. “A return back to what was normal is not OK,” he said. “The achievement gap is even higher now. … We have a lot of work to do.”

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Statewide results on the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program, better known as MCAP, were released at the state school board meeting on Tuesday morning. The state will not release a breakdown of scores for individual school districts or schools until next month. Parents should get student scores in January.

Scores from the spring assessments were better than those from a short, diagnostic test given in the first weeks of school in the fall of 2021, just as students fully emerged from the most severe phases of the pandemic amid increasing vaccination rates.

The statewide results, called preliminary, are similar to the results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress that were released earlier this fall. Maryland students lost ground on that national math test as well.

The state also released the first results of a new life sciences test given for the first time this year that showed 36% of high school students were proficient. In addition, 45% were proficient on the new high school government test.

When the national test results were released earlier this fall, educators believe students had more difficulty learning math online than they do in a classroom. In addition, they said parents feel more comfortable helping their children with English than teaching them math concepts. As a result, they believe, more students fell behind in math.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Maryland has released the results of statewide testing given in spring 2022. (Maryland State Board of Education)

The MCAP, required to be given each spring to every public school student in grades 3 through 8 and in specific high school subjects, was suspended during the height of the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021.

Maryland education officials had promised to shorten the test after complaints before the pandemic, but the process has meant a delay in getting results out. Ideally, the test results should help teachers redesign lesson plans or readjust teaching concepts after they see the results in the summer, but in this case the results will be released about nine months after testing.

Because the tests were redesigned, a cadre of teachers across Maryland had to decide the range of scores that a student would need to get in order to pass. The so-called standard setting takes months.

The state also released the results of a kindergarten readiness assessment that looks each year at how ready the entering class of kindergarteners is in the first two months of school. Part of the test is based on teacher observations. This year, kindergarteners showed a 2 percentage point gain since last year in those ready to start school, but the results were still below pre-pandemic levels.

Across the state, Baltimore City saw one of the largest percentage-point gains — eight percentage points — since last year. It still ranked third-worst in the state, ahead of Prince George’s and Dorchester counties, in the number of students who were ready when they arrived in kindergarten. One third of city kindergarteners were ready, compared to 39% in Baltimore County, 41% in Harford County and 54% in Howard County.

liz.bowie@thebaltimorebanner.com

Liz Bowie

liz.bowie@thebaltimorebanner.com