MoCo schools ranked by staff morale

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be very interested in seeing the middle school ranking. A good principal can make a tremendous difference. We have seen a change in ours just because an incompetent administrator was replaced by a competent one. It will take several years to fix the morale and some of the culture that the previous administrator left behind.

Man I hope we’re up next for a leadership change. Otherwise we’re going to lose a whole new group of good people this year, and I will be among them. The talk has started already, and it’s enough already. I’mstarting to think the county doesn’t care if you’re a high achieving wealthy W school. Just get a warm body in there and it will be fine seems to be the thinking. Parents, just curious, do you pay attention to this stuff? You really should...

[Anonymous]

You can see middle school survey results here. Someone would have to compile a ranking from all the individual reports...

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/gallup/

[Anonymous]

I think those are from 2014?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s true. It’s also the way the surveys are worded. i stopped taking them when my principal told the staff that any questions pertaining to the school’s leadership weren’t about admin, but should be answered with the instructional leadership team in mind. The ILT is comprised of teachers who meet monthly and are basically told what’s going to be happening by admin and then it’s presented to the staff like our colleagues made the decisions when that isn’t actually true at all. So essentially there was no way for us to give feedback about admin itself.

Meanwhile, principal is completely unprofessional and there are double standards all around but they put on a great dog and pony show for their boss and central office bigwigs which is apparently all that matters.

I am at ES level but I was highly annoyed that the survey contained no space for comments or any opportunity to explain or expand responses. To their credit, our administration singled out the handful of items where the ratings were more negative and created a separate follow-up survey with only those items that specifically requested comments.

That's what a good manager would do. But if you have a good manager, staff morale is already higher anyway than if you don't. (I'm speaking generally, not specifically about schools.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BCC has always been a tough school and I don't get why its so popular. It has a huge mix of kids and because of it its always had a huge number of issues.

A huge mix? It's majority white and only 10% FARMS.

Yah but it has the largest minority population out of the acceptably good high schools, why is that always glossed over? Beside the teachers are most likely sick of the renovation.

You may want to check your stats. By my measure on the at-a-glance forms, the only high school whiter than BCC is Whitman. So you could say it's the 24th most diverse out of 25 high schools.

No, according to link Wootton, Churchill and WJ are whiter than BCC.

Sorry to belabor this but:

BCC: 57% white
WJ: 54% white
Churchill: 53% white
Wootton: 45% white

I have no issue with any of the schools but I get very frustrated when people continue to rely on their impressions of schools based on info from 10 or 20 years ago. BCC used to have this reputation as the only "good" and "diverse" school, and that's clearly ridiculous now in a county where virtually all the schools are diverse and most are quite good. And yes, 57% white is the second whitest in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can see middle school survey results here. Someone would have to compile a ranking from all the individual reports...

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/gallup/

Okay... I had the time.

2014 Survey - Overall Staff Engagement

1. Poole 4.49
2. Wood 4.28
3. Rocky Hill 4.26
4. Julius West 4.25
5. Kingsview 4.23
6. Baker 4.16
7. Gaithersburg 4.10
8. Rosa Parks 4.04
8. Takoma Park 4.04
8. Tilden 4.04
9. Lee 4.03
10. Redland 4.01
11. North Bethesda 3.97
12. Lakelands 3.95
12. Ridgeview 3.95
13. Sligo 3.94
14. Frost 3.93
15. Montgomery Village 3.91
16. Argyle 3.89
17. Loiderman 3.88
17. Parkland 3.88
18. Pyle 3.87
19. Cabin John 3.85
20. Neelsville 3.84
20. Shady Grove 3.84
21. MLK 3.82
22. Hoover 3.79
23. Westland 3.78
23. White Oak 3.78
24. Banneker 3.77
24. Easter 3.77
24. Farquhar 3.77
24. Silver Spring 3.77
25. Newport Mill 3.71
26. Key 3.68
27. Forest Oak 3.66
28. Briggs Chaney 3.52
29. Clemente 3.46
Hallie Wells -- no data listed

*Overall Engagement is measured by the GrandMean, which is an average of the 12 Engagement items. The higher your score (with a maximum possible score of 5), the more engaged your fellow employees are.

[Anonymous]

Or, this, if you're okay with ties being broken alphabetically.


1. Poole 4.49
2. Wood 4.28
3. Rocky Hill 4.26
4. Julius West 4.25
5. Kingsview 4.23
6. Baker 4.16
7. Gaithersburg 4.10
8. Rosa Parks 4.04
9. Takoma Park 4.04
10. Tilden 4.04
11. Lee 4.03
12. Redland 4.01
13. North Bethesda 3.97
14. Lakelands 3.95
15. Ridgeview 3.95
16. Sligo 3.94
17. Frost 3.93
18. Montgomery Village 3.91
19. Argyle 3.89
20. Loiderman 3.88
21. Parkland 3.88
22. Pyle 3.87
23. Cabin John 3.85
24. Neelsville 3.84
25. Shady Grove 3.84
26. MLK 3.82
27. Hoover 3.79
28. Westland 3.78
29. White Oak 3.78
30. Banneker 3.77
31. Easter 3.77
32. Farquhar 3.77
33. Silver Spring 3.77
34. Newport Mill 3.71
35. Key 3.68
36. Forest Oak 3.66
37. Briggs Chaney 3.52
38. Clemente 3.46
Hallie Wells -- no data listed

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that but aren’t those 2014 stats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for that but aren’t those 2014 stats?

Yep. As noted in my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would be very interested in seeing the middle school ranking. A good principal can make a tremendous difference. We have seen a change in ours just because an incompetent administrator was replaced by a competent one. It will take several years to fix the morale and some of the culture that the previous administrator left behind.

Man I hope we’re up next for a leadership change. Otherwise we’re going to lose a whole new group of good people this year, and I will be among them. The talk has started already, and it’s enough already. I’mstarting to think the county doesn’t care if you’re a high achieving wealthy W school. Just get a warm body in there and it will be fine seems to be the thinking. Parents, just curious, do you pay attention to this stuff? You really should...

But as a parent how do you initiate change? Churchill has had the same checked out Principal for years and despite her several
high profile missteps, she is still there. She is not at leader, there is no regular communications from the school, the kids never see her, the is a huge drug problem, etc. We are lucky that there are some great teachers who care about the kids, but there are also others that you wonder how the are still even teachers. If her past history of ineptness will not induce MCPS to replace her what will?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's up with Sherwood?

Is it the principal (who is known to make inappropriate comments)? Or is it the lazy teachers? Or is it the poorly behaved students?

What did they rank?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for that but aren’t those 2014 stats?

Yep. As noted in my post.

Thanks--unfortunately they're off then, because so many on that list, including Westland and several others, had admin changes in that period. That makes such a difference for better or worse. To the person who asked about getting rid of a bad principal--I doubt they'll push out someone that close to retirement. But get involved when they hire the next one--it's a lot easier to get somewhere with a bad pick before the person is in place. In general, contact the school board and MCPS directors with your concerns about current bad principals. The worst offenders in my opinion are the ladder climbers who yes everyone but have no spine and get nothing done. That describes my middle school principal (I'm on the admin team and am probably even more frustrated with him than the teachers are.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for that but aren’t those 2014 stats?

Yep. As noted in my post.

Thanks--unfortunately they're off then, because so many on that list, including Westland and several others, had admin changes in that period. That makes such a difference for better or worse. To the person who asked about getting rid of a bad principal--I doubt they'll push out someone that close to retirement. But get involved when they hire the next one--it's a lot easier to get somewhere with a bad pick before the person is in place. In general, contact the school board and MCPS directors with your concerns about current bad principals. The worst offenders in my opinion are the ladder climbers who yes everyone but have no spine and get nothing done. That describes my middle school principal (I'm on the admin team and am probably even more frustrated with him than the teachers are.)

Are you saying there is more recent data posted somewhere?

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if there is more recent data but from the article it sounds like there is. Perhaps Jay Matthews could share it. Or MCPS for that matter. Don’t get me wrong - i don’t know how much it will reveal. The questions are not that useful and teachers worry the wrong people will be penalized or it won’t be confidential. So basically assume true morale is lower than what scores reveal.

[Anonymous]

2017 Survey - Staff Moral - % that Strongly Agreed or Agreed with Question 2: Staff morale is positive in this school. (this is the same measure used to order the high schools in the article)

1. Rosa Parks - 87.5%
2. Lakelands - 83.3%
3. Julius West - 83.1%
4. Cabin John - 82.4%
5. MLK - 73.9%
6. Takoma Park - 72.6%
7. Wood - 70.1%
8. Forest Oak - 67.3%
9. Rocky Hill - 66.1%
10. Tilden 65.7%
11. Frost - 65.3%
12. Farquar - 62.1%
13. Eastern - 61.5%
14. Key - 58.5%
15. Parkland - 56.2%
16. Pyle - 54.5%
17. Hallie Wells - 54%
18. Redland - 53.5%
19. North Bethesda - 52.2%
20. Westland - 50.6%
21. Argyle - 48.1%
22. Silver Spring - 45.7%
23. Kingsview - 42.8%
24. Briggs Chaney - 42.2%
25. Poole - 39.4%
26. White Oak - 38.3%
27. Sligo - 37.8%
28. Hoover - 37.7%
29. Lee - 36.8%
30. Loiderman - 35.9%
31. Newport Mill - 33.9%
32. Gaithersburg 28.6%
33. Banneker - 25.4%
34. Redland - 25%
35. Ridgeview - 25%
36. Baker 23.3%
37. Shady Grove - 20.5%
38. Neelsville - 15.5%
39. Clemente - 11.3%
40. Montgomery Village - 10.3%