SSIMS

[Anonymous]

Tell me about Silver Spring International Middle School - not the immersion programs, but the "regular" part. I was under the impression it was one of the poorest performing middle schools in MC, but in a previous thread people seem to be referring to it as a good school. I'm not a fan of test scores, so would be interested in other kinds of information about the school. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Just fyi, Silver Spring International has partial immersion so it is really not a school-within-a-school as elementary immersion and other middle school magnets may be. And that is a good thing. Your impression of it being a poor-performing school is possibly based on 5+ years ago when it had suffered a rocky start due to administrative turnover and a test scandal. A new administration came in six years ago and did an amazing job of demonstrating what a difference capable leadership makes to school climate and student performance. Plus the new middle school courses that are being fully rolled out this year - including Advanced English 8 and Matter and Energy for high school credit and new electives in dance and film - provide students opportunities to achieve at the highest levels.

Agreed that test scores do not tell the whole story. But the test scores on the MSDE site illustrate the growth in performance at the advanced levels and how well students have done across sub-groups: http://www.mdreportcard.org/

[Anonymous]

And don't forget the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) at SSI which is open to all students and gives 8th graders the option of completing a "passion project" by working with a mentor as an additional, virtual elective. MYP is also infused throughout the content areas and features "design cycle" research projects that are substantive and engaging.