New SOLs -- the contrast between Arlington and Alexandria City's failing Public Schools

[Anonymous]

By the way, the pass rate for George Washington 2 middle school apparently may be skewing these numbers. Grade 8 math passage dropped from 77% to just 7% (single digits).

I'm willing to entertain the possibility of a data entry error there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey op, I don't disagree with your larger point that this is a shame.

But, it really would have been more fair and more honest of you to post the FARMs rates right alongside the % columns.

In other words, do ACPS and Arlington have identical SES in their student populations? No, right? And that drives everything.

Alexandria's FARMS is 53%

Arlington's is 32%

That doesn't explain the outside-the-curve drop. Just 7% of GW2 8th graders passed the math SOL. 13% of GW1 8th graders did. At Hammond1, 41% did. At Hammon2, 35%

Even if you look at one of the better regarded elementary schools, they underperformed.

58% of MacArthury's 5th graders passed. 69% of Mason (better). 50% at Lyles Crouch. (All 5th graders)

Compare to Arlington Traditional: 96% of 5th graders passed; Glebe (probably similar in demographics): 91% of 5th graders passed. HOFFMAN-BOSTON had an 80% rate of passage on Math SOL for 5th graders.

Now, for the high schools, a TC to Wakefield comparison (since someone invariably yells "But! Wakefield" whenever TC is brought up here.

Just 50% of TC 9th graders passed Algebra 1. 62% passed Alegebra 2.

At Wakefield, those figures are 78% and 73%, respectively.

Since someone keeps saying "But! Wakefield"

Nor does it justify the response from the administration.

[Anonymous]

Accomack County hsa 64% of students on FARMs and outperformed ACPS.on Math SOL:

Grade 3: 55%
Grade 4: 71%
Grade 5: 73%
Grade 6: 54%
Grade 7: 46%
Grade 8: 64%

[Anonymous]

Arlington is still ugly as shit and full of some of the most boring people on the planet. It's only fair it should have better test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is still ugly as shit and full of some of the most boring people on the planet. It's only fair it should have better test scores.

tsk tsk - bitter anyone?

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this has anything to do with the drastic drop in 8th Grade Math, but there was a great push last year to have kids take Algebra. Normally, there would be a bigger pool of test takers for 8th grade (ranging from those that are brilliant at math to those who struggle). The kids who are in the upper half as far as math skills were in Algebra - their scores would not have been in 8th grade math and not averaged in with the rest of the 8th graders.

I thought the scores were disappointing, but hopefully we can learn from this and turn it around.

[Anonymous]

07:54

That is one possibility for sure. But I don't know how you can splice the Algebra numbers.

For city itself, end-of-course passage on Algebra1 and Algebra2 was 62% (a drop from 91% and 85% a year earlier for I and II, respectively). But this isn't broken down by grade until you look at the schools themselves.

GW1 had an 84% pass rate for algebraa 1 (nothing for algebra 2), down from 100%.

GW2 had a 72%, down from 100.

Hammond 1, 2, 3 did similarly well.

So, maybe that is the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why alexandria is just about the only part of NOVA that's not in my MRIS home listing search. Such a shame - I love the area otherwise. : /

Ditto. It's really such a tragedy. If they could fix the schools, that city's property values would explode.

We bought a house on the Fairfax side of Alexandria. We did not want to give up our short commutes. School options seem better.

[Anonymous]

7:54 here,

The year before, very few students were taking Algebra at GW2 or 1 which accounts for the 100% Look at the Geometry score - I think there was one kid that took it and the one kid passed -100%

This past school year, with the push for open enrollment, they had way more kids in those classes. I am thinking that maybe some of them may not have been ready. Do you see what I mean? There was a great increase of kids in all honors classes - I am not saying that is a bad thing- but there has to be at least a standard level or threshold of skills they should come into those courses with. They also should be willing to do more rigorous work -motivated.
It took an Act of Congress to move the kids out if they needed more support. This year we've been told that we will be able to move them out of honors into regular classes within the first month if we can show data that backs us up. BTW, I do not teach Math, but as an example, I had a student who read at the 1st grade level and it took 6 months to have them placed appropriately and given the reading intervention they needed. This year, I think ACPS will allow us to be more proactive, for which I am grateful.

[Anonymous]

The algebra numbers for the middle schools are definitely interesting and encouraging. I'd need to know how much bigger the sample size was though. And I'd remain concerned about how got left behind, resulting in those 7 and 13% scores.

But this also goes to the comms problem. You'd think ACPS communications would make a bigger deal out of this if they really had something to crow about.

So I can't tell whether the scores don't mean what they seem to mean, or whether their administration is just incompetent in publicizing them.

[Anonymous]

Wow, my PG public has better test pass rates than that

[Anonymous]

7:54/8:39. You are an Acps middle school teacher? First, thank you for coming on to this forum and providing some first-hand experience. Second, could you please tell us whether you would send your children to an Acps middle school?

[Anonymous]

...if you had the choice. (immediate pp here)

[Anonymous]

7:54 here:

Yes I am an ACPS middle school teacher. This will be my second year in ACPS, but my eighth year teaching. I have experience in public and college prep private schools as my family has moved all across the country (my spouse is in the military).

Honestly, at this time I WOULD send my children to an ACPS middle school, but I am a very involved parent and I monitor what is going on in school and with my kids. In other words, I think my kids would do well wherever I put them because I stay involved and keep tabs on how they are doing and feeling.

The happiest, least stressed, best adjusted students are those who have parents/guardians who are involved, ask questions, encourage and support their kids.
This is true no matter what their SES is or background they come from.

[Anonymous]

7:54 here:

If I had a choice of anything in the world? Haha I am not sure that anything in NOVA would be that different from each other fundamentally. I personally would look for something that had a lot of experiential learning for this age, without sacrificing the basics.