Black students in PGCPS do better than Black students in MCPS in math

[Anonymous]

https://www.thebanner.com/education/higher-education/maryland-math-test-scores-black-college-students-W3DH64BNNRBKPCGU3HIISMYSX4/

Prince George’s County schools are already on the right track. Several of them have passing rates on the state Algebra I test that are two or three times the state average. At Greenbelt Middle, for example, two-thirds of students who take the algebra test pass, and most of them are Black.

Principal Marcellus Clement said the district trained him and other principals on the math curriculum, so when questions come up about how to teach a concept, he and his educators can brainstorm together in what he calls productive struggle.

“If they’re not prepared going to that next level, I haven’t done my job,” he said. “And I won’t rest until I know every single kid in this building is ready.”

[Anonymous]

The quote you put in doesn’t show your title — I wouldn’t be surprised if what you are saying is true, but where’s the data?

I’m also somewhat curious about the relevant economics of the two groups of students. PG county has some of the richest Black families in the country. We know that parents income is a heavy predictor of test performance so that’s a relevant question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The quote you put in doesn’t show your title — I wouldn’t be surprised if what you are saying is true, but where’s the data?

I’m also somewhat curious about the relevant economics of the two groups of students. PG county has some of the richest Black families in the country. We know that parents income is a heavy predictor of test performance so that’s a relevant question.

MoCo also has some of the richest Black families in the country.

The data is in a chart in the linked article

[Anonymous]

Pulling some data from 2025 by googling:

20% proficiency for black students across MD
35% proficiency for students across McPS
24% proficiency for black students in McPS
13% proficiency for students in PG
I can’t find the race breakdown for PG County though but I would be surprised if it’s that much higher than the county average.

That’s not to take away from what the Greenbelt middle school is doing. Two third hitting proficiency is impressive. Good for them! That’s about what it is at Pyle. Greenbelt is right near the nasa and nsa facilities so I wonder if they have a lot of math type parents there also.

[Anonymous]

Without a banner subscription, can see the chart. It’s odd that the state doesn’t make this data more available—googling, all I can find is a state summary PPT that doesn’t give racial breakdown by county.

[Anonymous]

It's probably buried in one of the previous threads now but there was a post how MCPS lagged behind from Fairfax, Frederick and Howard Counties in multiple areas.

For example looking at MD Report Card the Algebra I proficiency rate for Blacks/African Americans for each of the counties are:

Montgomery 5.6
Howard 19.2
Frederick 20.2
Prince George's County 24.5

The state average is 10.9 percent

And since Fairfax county doesn't use MCAP, other numbers were used to compare such as chronic absenteeism. and Montgomery trailed behind Fairfax and the other school systems in that regards too.

Here is one of the threads that was talking about the numbers:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1305522.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The quote you put in doesn’t show your title — I wouldn’t be surprised if what you are saying is true, but where’s the data?

I’m also somewhat curious about the relevant economics of the two groups of students. PG county has some of the richest Black families in the country. We know that parents income is a heavy predictor of test performance so that’s a relevant question.

NP. The Maryland State Report card lets you break this down by race and economic status. 19% of economically disadvantaged Black students in P.G. County are proficient compared to 11% in Montgomery County. Economically disadvantaged Black students in P.G. County actually do better than non-economically disadvantaged Black students in Montgomery County. It's a really stark difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's probably buried in one of the previous threads now but there was a post how MCPS lagged behind from Fairfax, Frederick and Howard Counties in multiple areas.

For example looking at MD Report Card the Algebra I proficiency rate for Blacks/African Americans for each of the counties are:

Montgomery 5.6
Howard 19.2
Frederick 20.2
Prince George's County 24.5

The state average is 10.9 percent

And since Fairfax county doesn't use MCAP, other numbers were used to compare such as chronic absenteeism. and Montgomery trailed behind Fairfax and the other school systems in that regards too.

Here is one of the threads that was talking about the numbers:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1305522.page

Sorry, Montgomery County's proficiency rate should be 15.3 percent above.

[Anonymous]

I believe this. The superintendent and county executive there have their priorities straight on education. The super seems to be doing actually doing what he said he will - focus on education, financial adherence, and transparency. Everything Taylor isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably buried in one of the previous threads now but there was a post how MCPS lagged behind from Fairfax, Frederick and Howard Counties in multiple areas.

For example looking at MD Report Card the Algebra I proficiency rate for Blacks/African Americans for each of the counties are:

Montgomery 5.6
Howard 19.2
Frederick 20.2
Prince George's County 24.5

The state average is 10.9 percent

And since Fairfax county doesn't use MCAP, other numbers were used to compare such as chronic absenteeism. and Montgomery trailed behind Fairfax and the other school systems in that regards too.

Here is one of the threads that was talking about the numbers:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1305522.page

Sorry, Montgomery County's proficiency rate should be 15.3 percent above.

It's interesting that the disparity is primarily at the Algebra 1 level, though, while MCPS seems significantly better at the lower levels.

For example, Black students in MCPS are 40.6% proficient on Math 3, 32.5% proficient on Math 4, 30.4% proficient on Math 5, and 18.3% proficient on Math 6, while Black students in PGCPS are 26.1% proficient on Math 3, 16.7% proficient on Math 4, 15.4% proficient on Math 5, and 11.3% proficient on Math 6.

If you limit it to just economically disadvantaged Black students in MCPS, they're 32.0% proficient on Math 3, 26.3% proficient on Math 4, 22.3% proficient on Math 5, and 10.8% proficient on Math 6. While in PGCPS, economically disadvantaged Black students are 19.5% proficient on Math 3, 12.2% on Math 4, 10.6% on Math 5, and 7.4% on Math 6.

(I'm leaving out Math 7 and Math 8 because you start to get into selection issues on who is taking those tests vs who is taking Algebra 1 and geometry in middle school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably buried in one of the previous threads now but there was a post how MCPS lagged behind from Fairfax, Frederick and Howard Counties in multiple areas.

For example looking at MD Report Card the Algebra I proficiency rate for Blacks/African Americans for each of the counties are:

Montgomery 5.6
Howard 19.2
Frederick 20.2
Prince George's County 24.5

The state average is 10.9 percent

And since Fairfax county doesn't use MCAP, other numbers were used to compare such as chronic absenteeism. and Montgomery trailed behind Fairfax and the other school systems in that regards too.

Here is one of the threads that was talking about the numbers:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1305522.page

Sorry, Montgomery County's proficiency rate should be 15.3 percent above.

It's interesting that the disparity is primarily at the Algebra 1 level, though, while MCPS seems significantly better at the lower levels.

For example, Black students in MCPS are 40.6% proficient on Math 3, 32.5% proficient on Math 4, 30.4% proficient on Math 5, and 18.3% proficient on Math 6, while Black students in PGCPS are 26.1% proficient on Math 3, 16.7% proficient on Math 4, 15.4% proficient on Math 5, and 11.3% proficient on Math 6.

If you limit it to just economically disadvantaged Black students in MCPS, they're 32.0% proficient on Math 3, 26.3% proficient on Math 4, 22.3% proficient on Math 5, and 10.8% proficient on Math 6. While in PGCPS, economically disadvantaged Black students are 19.5% proficient on Math 3, 12.2% on Math 4, 10.6% on Math 5, and 7.4% on Math 6.

(I'm leaving out Math 7 and Math 8 because you start to get into selection issues on who is taking those tests vs who is taking Algebra 1 and geometry in middle school.)

PCGPS seems to be doing better for Black students than MCPS in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, but not in Geometry.

[Anonymous]

What is scary is that the article also says that Maryland overall is 38th in the nation on 8th grade math per the NAEP. And while Montgomery County is overall doing better than most Maryland counties on Algebra 1, it is doing worse (for all students) than Frederick, Howard, Carroll and Worcester. It stands to reason that MCPS itself is quite middling and possibly in the lower half compared to school districts nationally (NAEP data are only available at the state level, not at the district level).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe this. The superintendent and county executive there have their priorities straight on education. The super seems to be doing actually doing what he said he will - focus on education, financial adherence, and transparency. Everything Taylor isn’t.

I would go further and say it's not just the super but the entire environment of MCPS and Montgomery County.

The super was picked by the BOE. And the BOE was picked by the constituents.

If you base things off of DCUM and what you see that MCPS is doing, they're not really focused on the right things.

If you look at it, MCPS really just cares about it's numbers and making sure it doesn't look bad. So if they have a disproportionate number of students struggling or identified, instead of trying to solve or fix the issue, they try to cover it up.

ie if a number of students are struggling in a class, instead of showing their actual grades, they lower the standards and makes it hard to fail a class. This comes out in things like AP class where you compare the students who are able to meet College Readiness benchmarks in the tests and those that are not. Also proficiency rates in the state assessments.

Then they don't want to discipline students because it would look bad for their numbers.

MCPS does it for the numbers. The residents of Montgomery County, or just members on DCUM, think that they're valuing diversity and equity. But the way MCPS is doing things is not helping all the populations in meeting academic standards and preparing them competitiveness for life after high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe this. The superintendent and county executive there have their priorities straight on education. The super seems to be doing actually doing what he said he will - focus on education, financial adherence, and transparency. Everything Taylor isn’t.

I would go further and say it's not just the super but the entire environment of MCPS and Montgomery County.

The super was picked by the BOE. And the BOE was picked by the constituents.

If you base things off of DCUM and what you see that MCPS is doing, they're not really focused on the right things.

If you look at it, MCPS really just cares about it's numbers and making sure it doesn't look bad. So if they have a disproportionate number of students struggling or identified, instead of trying to solve or fix the issue, they try to cover it up.

ie if a number of students are struggling in a class, instead of showing their actual grades, they lower the standards and makes it hard to fail a class. This comes out in things like AP class where you compare the students who are able to meet College Readiness benchmarks in the tests and those that are not. Also proficiency rates in the state assessments.

Then they don't want to discipline students because it would look bad for their numbers.

MCPS does it for the numbers. The residents of Montgomery County, or just members on DCUM, think that they're valuing diversity and equity. But the way MCPS is doing things is not helping all the populations in meeting academic standards and preparing them competitiveness for life after high school.

Voters want something different. We have voted in people who weren't on the Apple Ballot (Lynne Harris) and voted out BOE members who participated in the promotion of a serial sexual harasser. We want people who will question the Superintendent, but when they get on the BOE they don't do this effectively. I think this is for two reasons:
- The stipend is too low for a role that is supposed to provide oversight over a multi-billion dollar budget. They have to either be retired, independently wealthy or have a full time job in addition to serving on the BOE in order to make it work financially.
- The BOE does not have taxing authority. This puts it in the position of having to beg the Council for money, which incentivizes them against asking questions and instead they fall in line with the Superintendent and the unions to extract as much money as possible from the Council. They face no backlash for the increased taxes their demands require. They aren't the ones that the Superintendent has to convince to justify increased funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's probably buried in one of the previous threads now but there was a post how MCPS lagged behind from Fairfax, Frederick and Howard Counties in multiple areas.

For example looking at MD Report Card the Algebra I proficiency rate for Blacks/African Americans for each of the counties are:

Montgomery 5.6
Howard 19.2
Frederick 20.2
Prince George's County 24.5

The state average is 10.9 percent

And since Fairfax county doesn't use MCAP, other numbers were used to compare such as chronic absenteeism. and Montgomery trailed behind Fairfax and the other school systems in that regards too.

Here is one of the threads that was talking about the numbers:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/1305522.page

Sorry, Montgomery County's proficiency rate should be 15.3 percent above.

It's interesting that the disparity is primarily at the Algebra 1 level, though, while MCPS seems significantly better at the lower levels.

For example, Black students in MCPS are 40.6% proficient on Math 3, 32.5% proficient on Math 4, 30.4% proficient on Math 5, and 18.3% proficient on Math 6, while Black students in PGCPS are 26.1% proficient on Math 3, 16.7% proficient on Math 4, 15.4% proficient on Math 5, and 11.3% proficient on Math 6.

If you limit it to just economically disadvantaged Black students in MCPS, they're 32.0% proficient on Math 3, 26.3% proficient on Math 4, 22.3% proficient on Math 5, and 10.8% proficient on Math 6. While in PGCPS, economically disadvantaged Black students are 19.5% proficient on Math 3, 12.2% on Math 4, 10.6% on Math 5, and 7.4% on Math 6.

(I'm leaving out Math 7 and Math 8 because you start to get into selection issues on who is taking those tests vs who is taking Algebra 1 and geometry in middle school.)

PCGPS seems to be doing better for Black students than MCPS in Algebra 1 and Algebra 2, but not in Geometry.

We'll see how it goes when MCPS folds Geometry into the proposed Integrated Math model, where Geometry will no longer be a stand alone course.