MD report cards are out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looked at Poolesville HS, since it is supposed to have three test-in magnet programs, and one non-magnet program for local students who do not qualify for the Science, Humanities and GE programs.

It is a rural community with lower numbers of Hispanic population than Gaithersburg. There are more White rural students. Interesting to see the performance of White students in ELA. Majority of Asians are either bussed to the school or are high achieving and their families moved to poolesville for the magnet HS. Special Ed students typically are in non-magnet programs, though there are some twice gifted students in the magnet programs as well. Most Hispanic students are those who are in magnet programs and are high achieving.

PERCENT PROFICIENT
-- ---- ---- ---- -- MATH -- -- ELA
Asian-- ---- ---- ---- ---- --97.6 % -- -- 92.9 %
Black or African American-- ---- 70 % -- -- 52.2 %
Hispanic/Latino of any race -- -- 75 % -- -- 72.7 %
White-- ---- ---- ---- -- 81.9 % -- -- 54 %
Two or more races-- ---- -- 88.9 % -- -- 65 %
Special Education-- ---- -- 37.5 % -- -- 22.2 %
All Students-- ---- ---- -- 85.4 % -- -- 66.3 %

Interesting to see hispanics outscoring whites in ELA. And once again, Asian American students outscores everyone.

Statistics are BS.

Hispanics make up 7.7% of the population at PHS.
total pop - 1183

91 kids (many who are in the magnet b/c it's 75% magnet) vs. 600 white students . . .

But it's not BS when applied to low performing schools?

These stats do not show the real story. This is a high performing school because of selected high performing kids who are from by and large educated and at least middle class families. In such a population, it is easy to put in place a rigorous advanced curriculum and great teachers who enjoy teaching to these students. The social issues that other schools have is lacking here - very rare to hear of discipline problems in this population. As mentioned above the Hispanics are also those who are high performing and make up only 7.7 % of the population. However, what is very telling and interesting is that many of the local White students may not come from families where the parents are highly educated or affluent. As a result, even though they are in a magnet school, and the magnet courses of all the three houses are open for them, they are unable to avail of this opportunity because they are lagging behind significantly in academics. These White students are failing to achieve in the same way the Hispanics and Blacks are failing to succeed. There is a glaring case of achievement gap among these students that has nothing to do with race but for these White students it has everything to do with family education level, wealth, family culture - their SES.

We are so tuned to think of Hispanic students doing poorly in English because of the language barriers of their parents. It is equally interesting to see this population of White students who are English speakers doing poorly in English.

The point that I am trying to make is that PHS is a unique case that can be used to show that MCPS is not being able to help students at HS levels if they have significant educational deficits in their family structure and SES, even if they are given the best environment, teachers, curriculum, peer group, and support in HS.Significant cultural and social norms around valuing education and intervention to become experts rather than proficient in acadmics that is ingrained in Asian-American community in US is lacking in these students and this deficiency needs to be addressed at the pre-ES, ES and MS level by MCPS - regardless of a student's race or language fluency. Instead what MCPS tries to do is dumb down the curriculum, in effect hurting the bright students from lower SES homes.

It can also be used to show MCPS failure to make their early intervention efforts meaningful. All the headstarts and summer schooling is not making a dent by the time these kids are in MS and HS. This is a serious cause for concern because while the early intervention is essential to bridge the gap, MCPS has failed time and again to make it effective. They always end up lowering standards and doing away with clear quantitative data points like final exams etc.

At the same time, the magnet students are thriving and are able to take on the most rigorous curriculum because they are supported at school and home. They are coming from homes with very EDUCATED MOTHERS and FATHERS. How can MCPS replicate the advantage of highly educated parents for these students at ES and MS levels?

By the time these students are in MS they are pretty much on the path of academic success or stupendous academic failure. MCPS needs to do a lot more at the ES and MS levels and not put a ceiling on any child who is advanced. Why should they not put a ceiling on advanced students or magnet programs? Mainly because without these programs only the poor students of all races will suffer. The high achieving communities will continue to accelerate and enrich their children, especially now that they feel that they are being discriminated against in spite of they and their children doing everything right in terms of dedication, hard work, discipline and the focus that they bring to academics.

Of course, since we have the same old corrupt BOE members in power, I do not see how anyone can stop this decline of MCPS.

Um. Your gentle pity for our poor rural youth is misplaced. PHS feeder elementary and middle schools are all ranked 4 and 5s. The local kids are generally mid to high SES and the schools all have a very low FARMS rate. There are tons of lawyers and scientists living up here. Most households are professional, educated, and dual income. The difference in stats is because you are seeing what the current ELA education in MCPS produces for average kids. In the case of PHS, the lovely, bright, minority magnet kids who join our community from Germantown and Gaithersburg have higher scores because they are special, smarter kids, not because they are more SES advantaged. Also, parents here tend to want their kids to play outside or do sports and music after school and don’t tend to send their kids to academic prep classes unless their child is struggling to keep up with peers. So, in a way, you can very clearly see the EXACT effects of MCPS curriculum in the local PHS kids... if it is subpar results, it is NOT because a bunch of kids are poor and neglected at home. It is because a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum.

Yes, those who are higher SES and moved to Poolesville for the HS are doing well. So if we remove the magnet kids from the equation altogether - what do we have? Without the magnet kids, the general population resembles that of a W school, correct? Well, these "non-magnet" students are still doing worse than the W school kids. Yes, MCPS curriculum sucks. But without the magnet kids, as per your assertion, Poolesville should perform like Whitman, being as they too are "a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum".

In other words, newly transplanted residents are trying to insist that rural poor Whites do not exist in Poolesville and surrounding areas. Sorry, they exist and they do poorly. Some of this is due to MCPS and some of this due to the family. In the end, low SES is a great equalizer for academic failure across races.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The math scores are abysmal because the new math they teach is abysmal. They don't teach basic math facts like multiplication tables. What is happening is that parents are not able to offer the support at home.

We moved to FCPS (MD), and my 4th grader, who knew his math facts from his MCPS school, is still working on them, as his teacher constantly reinforces the basics while teaching them new material. I love it.

My DS started when they rolled over to the 2.0 curriculum and they were not taught straight up multiplication table memorization. They taught groupings (which is another valid way) and other multi-step, round-about ways. Then they expected them to simply know 9x8. It didn't work and he is still catching up.

That's a teacher problem, not an mcps problem. Both my kids had to memorize their multiplication tables, including my now 8th grader. They would even have speed competitions. This was in 3rd grade. Again, it's a teacher problem. Sounds like your teachers at your school sucks.

It’s also a parent problem. I e got three kids that came up through 2.0 and each of them had a standard homework assignment to practice basic math facts for 10 minutes per day. I have big issues with the 2.0 math curriculum but this isn’t one of them.

PP here.. agree. Teachers also gave my kids flashcards (really just printout on regular paper) to practice at home as well, which we did. Math requires repetition as well as numeracy. The only problem I have with the math curriculum is that they don't practice enough so we make them practice at home a few times a week for 10minutes, just like we make sure they read everyday for 20minutes as part of ELA HW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not impressed by the bell curve either because what it takes to get a 3, 4, or 5 is terrifyingly low.

Its measuring grade level proficiency not performance or academic achievement. A school with a 4 and a 66% means that 44% of the school is not measuring in at grade level proficiency. A 3 requires just over half of your school passing which conversely means that almost half of the rest of school is failing.

Sounds like someone had that 2.0 math in school.

PP is not exactly right. I’ve only really looked at the elementary school methodology, but if the school’s average PARCC student score is 4, then they get 4/5 points - 80%. Every single kid at that school could be proficient (4 is proficient on PARCC), and the school would still only score 80%, not 100%, in that category. I think that’s why 75% of all points is 5 stars. Because getting 100% of the points is designed to be impossible.

OMG 66 + 44 = 110

[Anonymous]

It looks like MD gave all schools a bump from their low PARCC scores. I can't find the thread but the Baltimore Sun published the scores. I remember that the pass rate for our cluster was lower than the % being listed now under the MD report card.

[Anonymous]

The site is working now. One school is a 5 the other a 4. PGCPS.

[Anonymous]

Is the expectation that all kids will be at the same level of educational achievement after their K-12 schooling? There was a time when kids failed and were held back. Many other dropped off because they could not handle the rigor of academics. The academic achievement gap always existed because there are academically strong kids and then there are kids who are good at other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the expectation that all kids will be at the same level of educational achievement after their K-12 schooling? There was a time when kids failed and were held back. Many other dropped off because they could not handle the rigor of academics. The academic achievement gap always existed because there are academically strong kids and then there are kids who are good at other things.

I don't believe that there is such an expectation, but regardless of the reasons (many of which, I believe, are beyond the school system's ability to fully address), the school system has to respond if there are marked discrepancies in how well different categories of students are learning. There can be disagreements over how much is enough, or what is the best approach, but the "throw your hands up in the air"/blame the victim approach is just buying decades of even more profound trouble.

Unfortunately, in today's economy, the value of a good high school education is even more important than it was 20-30 years ago. The opportunities for unskilled labor are shrinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The site is working now. One school is a 5 the other a 4. PGCPS.

FCPS (MD) - HS and MS = 5, ES = 4

I think 5s and 4s seem to be the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The math scores are abysmal because the new math they teach is abysmal. They don't teach basic math facts like multiplication tables. What is happening is that parents are not able to offer the support at home.

We moved to FCPS (MD), and my 4th grader, who knew his math facts from his MCPS school, is still working on them, as his teacher constantly reinforces the basics while teaching them new material. I love it.

My DS started when they rolled over to the 2.0 curriculum and they were not taught straight up multiplication table memorization. They taught groupings (which is another valid way) and other multi-step, round-about ways. Then they expected them to simply know 9x8. It didn't work and he is still catching up.

flash cards!

FCPS person here - I have been an educator for over 20 years, and I am tired of the pendulum swinging back and forth. Kids need to memorize certain facts, but they also should know how things work. You don't sacrifice one for the other. Don't let the system fool you; you know what's best for your kids.

flash cards!! There are so many math games online, too, that are fun for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda Beat has an article out:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/quarter-of-mcps-schools-receive-top-rank-in-new-state-accountability-model/

Most Montgomery County schools received three or more stars from the state, according to data released by the MSDEA on Tuesday. One school received one star, three received two stars, 39 received three stars, 102 were awarded four stars and 50 were awarded five stars.

It has a good summary chart for the entire state.

Oh - it also has an MCPS summary by cluster:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/See-how-MCPS-schools-ranked-by-cluster.pdf

Really, nothing surprising - it's a map of SES status in the county. And in case anyone was hunting who the 2s and 1 were:
Carl Sandburg Center 2
John L Gildner Regional Inst for Children & Adol 2
Alternative Programs 1
Duh. These are the schools for kids that aren't being successful. They are transitional. When kids are back on track (hopefully), they return to their home school.

So in summary, all of MCPS schools ( regular ) got 3 or higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looked at Poolesville HS, since it is supposed to have three test-in magnet programs, and one non-magnet program for local students who do not qualify for the Science, Humanities and GE programs.

It is a rural community with lower numbers of Hispanic population than Gaithersburg. There are more White rural students. Interesting to see the performance of White students in ELA. Majority of Asians are either bussed to the school or are high achieving and their families moved to poolesville for the magnet HS. Special Ed students typically are in non-magnet programs, though there are some twice gifted students in the magnet programs as well. Most Hispanic students are those who are in magnet programs and are high achieving.

PERCENT PROFICIENT
-- ---- ---- ---- -- MATH -- -- ELA
Asian-- ---- ---- ---- ---- --97.6 % -- -- 92.9 %
Black or African American-- ---- 70 % -- -- 52.2 %
Hispanic/Latino of any race -- -- 75 % -- -- 72.7 %
White-- ---- ---- ---- -- 81.9 % -- -- 54 %
Two or more races-- ---- -- 88.9 % -- -- 65 %
Special Education-- ---- -- 37.5 % -- -- 22.2 %
All Students-- ---- ---- -- 85.4 % -- -- 66.3 %

Interesting to see hispanics outscoring whites in ELA. And once again, Asian American students outscores everyone.

Statistics are BS.

Hispanics make up 7.7% of the population at PHS.
total pop - 1183

91 kids (many who are in the magnet b/c it's 75% magnet) vs. 600 white students . . .

But it's not BS when applied to low performing schools?

These stats do not show the real story. This is a high performing school because of selected high performing kids who are from by and large educated and at least middle class families. In such a population, it is easy to put in place a rigorous advanced curriculum and great teachers who enjoy teaching to these students. The social issues that other schools have is lacking here - very rare to hear of discipline problems in this population. As mentioned above the Hispanics are also those who are high performing and make up only 7.7 % of the population. However, what is very telling and interesting is that many of the local White students may not come from families where the parents are highly educated or affluent. As a result, even though they are in a magnet school, and the magnet courses of all the three houses are open for them, they are unable to avail of this opportunity because they are lagging behind significantly in academics. These White students are failing to achieve in the same way the Hispanics and Blacks are failing to succeed. There is a glaring case of achievement gap among these students that has nothing to do with race but for these White students it has everything to do with family education level, wealth, family culture - their SES.

We are so tuned to think of Hispanic students doing poorly in English because of the language barriers of their parents. It is equally interesting to see this population of White students who are English speakers doing poorly in English.

The point that I am trying to make is that PHS is a unique case that can be used to show that MCPS is not being able to help students at HS levels if they have significant educational deficits in their family structure and SES, even if they are given the best environment, teachers, curriculum, peer group, and support in HS.Significant cultural and social norms around valuing education and intervention to become experts rather than proficient in acadmics that is ingrained in Asian-American community in US is lacking in these students and this deficiency needs to be addressed at the pre-ES, ES and MS level by MCPS - regardless of a student's race or language fluency. Instead what MCPS tries to do is dumb down the curriculum, in effect hurting the bright students from lower SES homes.

It can also be used to show MCPS failure to make their early intervention efforts meaningful. All the headstarts and summer schooling is not making a dent by the time these kids are in MS and HS. This is a serious cause for concern because while the early intervention is essential to bridge the gap, MCPS has failed time and again to make it effective. They always end up lowering standards and doing away with clear quantitative data points like final exams etc.

At the same time, the magnet students are thriving and are able to take on the most rigorous curriculum because they are supported at school and home. They are coming from homes with very EDUCATED MOTHERS and FATHERS. How can MCPS replicate the advantage of highly educated parents for these students at ES and MS levels?

By the time these students are in MS they are pretty much on the path of academic success or stupendous academic failure. MCPS needs to do a lot more at the ES and MS levels and not put a ceiling on any child who is advanced. Why should they not put a ceiling on advanced students or magnet programs? Mainly because without these programs only the poor students of all races will suffer. The high achieving communities will continue to accelerate and enrich their children, especially now that they feel that they are being discriminated against in spite of they and their children doing everything right in terms of dedication, hard work, discipline and the focus that they bring to academics.

Of course, since we have the same old corrupt BOE members in power, I do not see how anyone can stop this decline of MCPS.

Um. Your gentle pity for our poor rural youth is misplaced. PHS feeder elementary and middle schools are all ranked 4 and 5s. The local kids are generally mid to high SES and the schools all have a very low FARMS rate. There are tons of lawyers and scientists living up here. Most households are professional, educated, and dual income. The difference in stats is because you are seeing what the current ELA education in MCPS produces for average kids. In the case of PHS, the lovely, bright, minority magnet kids who join our community from Germantown and Gaithersburg have higher scores because they are special, smarter kids, not because they are more SES advantaged. Also, parents here tend to want their kids to play outside or do sports and music after school and don’t tend to send their kids to academic prep classes unless their child is struggling to keep up with peers. So, in a way, you can very clearly see the EXACT effects of MCPS curriculum in the local PHS kids... if it is subpar results, it is NOT because a bunch of kids are poor and neglected at home. It is because a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum.

Yes, those who are higher SES and moved to Poolesville for the HS are doing well. So if we remove the magnet kids from the equation altogether - what do we have? Without the magnet kids, the general population resembles that of a W school, correct? Well, these "non-magnet" students are still doing worse than the W school kids. Yes, MCPS curriculum sucks. But without the magnet kids, as per your assertion, Poolesville should perform like Whitman, being as they too are "a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum".

In other words, newly transplanted residents are trying to insist that rural poor Whites do not exist in Poolesville and surrounding areas. Sorry, they exist and they do poorly. Some of this is due to MCPS and some of this due to the family. In the end, low SES is a great equalizer for academic failure across races.

Of course rural poor whites exist in the upcounty. But John Poole Middle School has about 10% FARMS. Low SES is simply not the driving force for low scores up here. And Whitman is not comparable. That is a fabulously rich community that, from all accounts on DCUM, does do a lot of extracurricular academic prep. So those kids are doing well DESPITE the MCPS curriculum. Most PHS kids are not struggling with typical low SES obstacles. They have stable homes with supportive parents and decent resources and, it should be noted, little culture for prep. The schools are generally calm with few behavioral disruptions. If kids in PHS are doing poorly, it is most likely the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The math scores are abysmal because the new math they teach is abysmal. They don't teach basic math facts like multiplication tables. What is happening is that parents are not able to offer the support at home.

We moved to FCPS (MD), and my 4th grader, who knew his math facts from his MCPS school, is still working on them, as his teacher constantly reinforces the basics while teaching them new material. I love it.

My DS started when they rolled over to the 2.0 curriculum and they were not taught straight up multiplication table memorization. They taught groupings (which is another valid way) and other multi-step, round-about ways. Then they expected them to simply know 9x8. It didn't work and he is still catching up.

flash cards!

FCPS person here - I have been an educator for over 20 years, and I am tired of the pendulum swinging back and forth. Kids need to memorize certain facts, but they also should know how things work. You don't sacrifice one for the other. Don't let the system fool you; you know what's best for your kids.

flash cards!! There are so many math games online, too, that are fun for kids.

Not everyone wants their kids on computers and not all kids do best with online games. My kid probably spends 1/2 the day on his chromebook. Not doing it at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looked at Poolesville HS, since it is supposed to have three test-in magnet programs, and one non-magnet program for local students who do not qualify for the Science, Humanities and GE programs.

It is a rural community with lower numbers of Hispanic population than Gaithersburg. There are more White rural students. Interesting to see the performance of White students in ELA. Majority of Asians are either bussed to the school or are high achieving and their families moved to poolesville for the magnet HS. Special Ed students typically are in non-magnet programs, though there are some twice gifted students in the magnet programs as well. Most Hispanic students are those who are in magnet programs and are high achieving.

PERCENT PROFICIENT
-- ---- ---- ---- -- MATH -- -- ELA
Asian-- ---- ---- ---- ---- --97.6 % -- -- 92.9 %
Black or African American-- ---- 70 % -- -- 52.2 %
Hispanic/Latino of any race -- -- 75 % -- -- 72.7 %
White-- ---- ---- ---- -- 81.9 % -- -- 54 %
Two or more races-- ---- -- 88.9 % -- -- 65 %
Special Education-- ---- -- 37.5 % -- -- 22.2 %
All Students-- ---- ---- -- 85.4 % -- -- 66.3 %

Interesting to see hispanics outscoring whites in ELA. And once again, Asian American students outscores everyone.

Statistics are BS.

Hispanics make up 7.7% of the population at PHS.
total pop - 1183

91 kids (many who are in the magnet b/c it's 75% magnet) vs. 600 white students . . .

But it's not BS when applied to low performing schools?

These stats do not show the real story. This is a high performing school because of selected high performing kids who are from by and large educated and at least middle class families. In such a population, it is easy to put in place a rigorous advanced curriculum and great teachers who enjoy teaching to these students. The social issues that other schools have is lacking here - very rare to hear of discipline problems in this population. As mentioned above the Hispanics are also those who are high performing and make up only 7.7 % of the population. However, what is very telling and interesting is that many of the local White students may not come from families where the parents are highly educated or affluent. As a result, even though they are in a magnet school, and the magnet courses of all the three houses are open for them, they are unable to avail of this opportunity because they are lagging behind significantly in academics. These White students are failing to achieve in the same way the Hispanics and Blacks are failing to succeed. There is a glaring case of achievement gap among these students that has nothing to do with race but for these White students it has everything to do with family education level, wealth, family culture - their SES.

We are so tuned to think of Hispanic students doing poorly in English because of the language barriers of their parents. It is equally interesting to see this population of White students who are English speakers doing poorly in English.

The point that I am trying to make is that PHS is a unique case that can be used to show that MCPS is not being able to help students at HS levels if they have significant educational deficits in their family structure and SES, even if they are given the best environment, teachers, curriculum, peer group, and support in HS.Significant cultural and social norms around valuing education and intervention to become experts rather than proficient in acadmics that is ingrained in Asian-American community in US is lacking in these students and this deficiency needs to be addressed at the pre-ES, ES and MS level by MCPS - regardless of a student's race or language fluency. Instead what MCPS tries to do is dumb down the curriculum, in effect hurting the bright students from lower SES homes.

It can also be used to show MCPS failure to make their early intervention efforts meaningful. All the headstarts and summer schooling is not making a dent by the time these kids are in MS and HS. This is a serious cause for concern because while the early intervention is essential to bridge the gap, MCPS has failed time and again to make it effective. They always end up lowering standards and doing away with clear quantitative data points like final exams etc.

At the same time, the magnet students are thriving and are able to take on the most rigorous curriculum because they are supported at school and home. They are coming from homes with very EDUCATED MOTHERS and FATHERS. How can MCPS replicate the advantage of highly educated parents for these students at ES and MS levels?

By the time these students are in MS they are pretty much on the path of academic success or stupendous academic failure. MCPS needs to do a lot more at the ES and MS levels and not put a ceiling on any child who is advanced. Why should they not put a ceiling on advanced students or magnet programs? Mainly because without these programs only the poor students of all races will suffer. The high achieving communities will continue to accelerate and enrich their children, especially now that they feel that they are being discriminated against in spite of they and their children doing everything right in terms of dedication, hard work, discipline and the focus that they bring to academics.

Of course, since we have the same old corrupt BOE members in power, I do not see how anyone can stop this decline of MCPS.

Um. Your gentle pity for our poor rural youth is misplaced. PHS feeder elementary and middle schools are all ranked 4 and 5s. The local kids are generally mid to high SES and the schools all have a very low FARMS rate. There are tons of lawyers and scientists living up here. Most households are professional, educated, and dual income. The difference in stats is because you are seeing what the current ELA education in MCPS produces for average kids. In the case of PHS, the lovely, bright, minority magnet kids who join our community from Germantown and Gaithersburg have higher scores because they are special, smarter kids, not because they are more SES advantaged. Also, parents here tend to want their kids to play outside or do sports and music after school and don’t tend to send their kids to academic prep classes unless their child is struggling to keep up with peers. So, in a way, you can very clearly see the EXACT effects of MCPS curriculum in the local PHS kids... if it is subpar results, it is NOT because a bunch of kids are poor and neglected at home. It is because a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum.

Yes, those who are higher SES and moved to Poolesville for the HS are doing well. So if we remove the magnet kids from the equation altogether - what do we have? Without the magnet kids, the general population resembles that of a W school, correct? Well, these "non-magnet" students are still doing worse than the W school kids. Yes, MCPS curriculum sucks. But without the magnet kids, as per your assertion, Poolesville should perform like Whitman, being as they too are "a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum".

In other words, newly transplanted residents are trying to insist that rural poor Whites do not exist in Poolesville and surrounding areas. Sorry, they exist and they do poorly. Some of this is due to MCPS and some of this due to the family. In the end, low SES is a great equalizer for academic failure across races.

Of course rural poor whites exist in the upcounty. But John Poole Middle School has about 10% FARMS. Low SES is simply not the driving force for low scores up here. And Whitman is not comparable. That is a fabulously rich community that, from all accounts on DCUM, does do a lot of extracurricular academic prep. So those kids are doing well DESPITE the MCPS curriculum. Most PHS kids are not struggling with typical low SES obstacles. They have stable homes with supportive parents and decent resources and, it should be noted, little culture for prep. The schools are generally calm with few behavioral disruptions. If kids in PHS are doing poorly, it is most likely the curriculum.

You need to get over your fixation with prep. Here's a DCUM account that doesn't support your theory: our friends with kids at Whitman do no extracurricular prep, and their kids are doing just fine academically under the MCPS curricular and enjoy their varsity sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looked at Poolesville HS, since it is supposed to have three test-in magnet programs, and one non-magnet program for local students who do not qualify for the Science, Humanities and GE programs.

It is a rural community with lower numbers of Hispanic population than Gaithersburg. There are more White rural students. Interesting to see the performance of White students in ELA. Majority of Asians are either bussed to the school or are high achieving and their families moved to poolesville for the magnet HS. Special Ed students typically are in non-magnet programs, though there are some twice gifted students in the magnet programs as well. Most Hispanic students are those who are in magnet programs and are high achieving.

PERCENT PROFICIENT
-- ---- ---- ---- -- MATH -- -- ELA
Asian-- ---- ---- ---- ---- --97.6 % -- -- 92.9 %
Black or African American-- ---- 70 % -- -- 52.2 %
Hispanic/Latino of any race -- -- 75 % -- -- 72.7 %
White-- ---- ---- ---- -- 81.9 % -- -- 54 %
Two or more races-- ---- -- 88.9 % -- -- 65 %
Special Education-- ---- -- 37.5 % -- -- 22.2 %
All Students-- ---- ---- -- 85.4 % -- -- 66.3 %

Interesting to see hispanics outscoring whites in ELA. And once again, Asian American students outscores everyone.

Statistics are BS.

Hispanics make up 7.7% of the population at PHS.
total pop - 1183

91 kids (many who are in the magnet b/c it's 75% magnet) vs. 600 white students . . .

But it's not BS when applied to low performing schools?

These stats do not show the real story. This is a high performing school because of selected high performing kids who are from by and large educated and at least middle class families. In such a population, it is easy to put in place a rigorous advanced curriculum and great teachers who enjoy teaching to these students. The social issues that other schools have is lacking here - very rare to hear of discipline problems in this population. As mentioned above the Hispanics are also those who are high performing and make up only 7.7 % of the population. However, what is very telling and interesting is that many of the local White students may not come from families where the parents are highly educated or affluent. As a result, even though they are in a magnet school, and the magnet courses of all the three houses are open for them, they are unable to avail of this opportunity because they are lagging behind significantly in academics. These White students are failing to achieve in the same way the Hispanics and Blacks are failing to succeed. There is a glaring case of achievement gap among these students that has nothing to do with race but for these White students it has everything to do with family education level, wealth, family culture - their SES.

We are so tuned to think of Hispanic students doing poorly in English because of the language barriers of their parents. It is equally interesting to see this population of White students who are English speakers doing poorly in English.

The point that I am trying to make is that PHS is a unique case that can be used to show that MCPS is not being able to help students at HS levels if they have significant educational deficits in their family structure and SES, even if they are given the best environment, teachers, curriculum, peer group, and support in HS.Significant cultural and social norms around valuing education and intervention to become experts rather than proficient in acadmics that is ingrained in Asian-American community in US is lacking in these students and this deficiency needs to be addressed at the pre-ES, ES and MS level by MCPS - regardless of a student's race or language fluency. Instead what MCPS tries to do is dumb down the curriculum, in effect hurting the bright students from lower SES homes.

It can also be used to show MCPS failure to make their early intervention efforts meaningful. All the headstarts and summer schooling is not making a dent by the time these kids are in MS and HS. This is a serious cause for concern because while the early intervention is essential to bridge the gap, MCPS has failed time and again to make it effective. They always end up lowering standards and doing away with clear quantitative data points like final exams etc.

At the same time, the magnet students are thriving and are able to take on the most rigorous curriculum because they are supported at school and home. They are coming from homes with very EDUCATED MOTHERS and FATHERS. How can MCPS replicate the advantage of highly educated parents for these students at ES and MS levels?

By the time these students are in MS they are pretty much on the path of academic success or stupendous academic failure. MCPS needs to do a lot more at the ES and MS levels and not put a ceiling on any child who is advanced. Why should they not put a ceiling on advanced students or magnet programs? Mainly because without these programs only the poor students of all races will suffer. The high achieving communities will continue to accelerate and enrich their children, especially now that they feel that they are being discriminated against in spite of they and their children doing everything right in terms of dedication, hard work, discipline and the focus that they bring to academics.

Of course, since we have the same old corrupt BOE members in power, I do not see how anyone can stop this decline of MCPS.

Um. Your gentle pity for our poor rural youth is misplaced. PHS feeder elementary and middle schools are all ranked 4 and 5s. The local kids are generally mid to high SES and the schools all have a very low FARMS rate. There are tons of lawyers and scientists living up here. Most households are professional, educated, and dual income. The difference in stats is because you are seeing what the current ELA education in MCPS produces for average kids. In the case of PHS, the lovely, bright, minority magnet kids who join our community from Germantown and Gaithersburg have higher scores because they are special, smarter kids, not because they are more SES advantaged. Also, parents here tend to want their kids to play outside or do sports and music after school and don’t tend to send their kids to academic prep classes unless their child is struggling to keep up with peers. So, in a way, you can very clearly see the EXACT effects of MCPS curriculum in the local PHS kids... if it is subpar results, it is NOT because a bunch of kids are poor and neglected at home. It is because a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum.

Yes, those who are higher SES and moved to Poolesville for the HS are doing well. So if we remove the magnet kids from the equation altogether - what do we have? Without the magnet kids, the general population resembles that of a W school, correct? Well, these "non-magnet" students are still doing worse than the W school kids. Yes, MCPS curriculum sucks. But without the magnet kids, as per your assertion, Poolesville should perform like Whitman, being as they too are "a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum".

In other words, newly transplanted residents are trying to insist that rural poor Whites do not exist in Poolesville and surrounding areas. Sorry, they exist and they do poorly. Some of this is due to MCPS and some of this due to the family. In the end, low SES is a great equalizer for academic failure across races.

Of course rural poor whites exist in the upcounty. But John Poole Middle School has about 10% FARMS. Low SES is simply not the driving force for low scores up here. And Whitman is not comparable. That is a fabulously rich community that, from all accounts on DCUM, does do a lot of extracurricular academic prep. So those kids are doing well DESPITE the MCPS curriculum. Most PHS kids are not struggling with typical low SES obstacles. They have stable homes with supportive parents and decent resources and, it should be noted, little culture for prep. The schools are generally calm with few behavioral disruptions. If kids in PHS are doing poorly, it is most likely the curriculum.

You need to get over your fixation with prep. Here's a DCUM account that doesn't support your theory: our friends with kids at Whitman do no extracurricular prep, and their kids are doing just fine academically under the MCPS curricular and enjoy their varsity sports.

That is true for plenty of kids in PHS, too, but sorry... I didn’t mean to go on about it. I don’t actually have a problem with prep but I do think PHS is a good way to see what the MCPS curriculum provides without many external forces driving scores up or down.

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Anonymous wrote:The math scores are abysmal because the new math they teach is abysmal. They don't teach basic math facts like multiplication tables. What is happening is that parents are not able to offer the support at home.

We moved to FCPS (MD), and my 4th grader, who knew his math facts from his MCPS school, is still working on them, as his teacher constantly reinforces the basics while teaching them new material. I love it.

My DS started when they rolled over to the 2.0 curriculum and they were not taught straight up multiplication table memorization. They taught groupings (which is another valid way) and other multi-step, round-about ways. Then they expected them to simply know 9x8. It didn't work and he is still catching up.

flash cards!

FCPS person here - I have been an educator for over 20 years, and I am tired of the pendulum swinging back and forth. Kids need to memorize certain facts, but they also should know how things work. You don't sacrifice one for the other. Don't let the system fool you; you know what's best for your kids.

flash cards!! There are so many math games online, too, that are fun for kids.

Not everyone wants their kids on computers and not all kids do best with online games. My kid probably spends 1/2 the day on his chromebook. Not doing it at home.

Then use the flash cards. It was a suggestion, not a mandate. Jeez, lighten up, Lucy!

In our new system, the kids hardly use their chromebooks. So online after school is not an issue for us if the teachers recommend websites.