Highland Elementary -- fact or fiction

[Anonymous]

I don't know what to make of this. I do think that the huge change in test scores is suspicious. To go from 16% to 96%+ in three years is amazing for any student body.

http://www.ajc.com/news/cheating-our-children-suspect-1427726.html#.T5wgGB4GIZA.email

[Anonymous]

google potomac elem cheating a few years back it does happen but I hope this is legit and the kids worked hard.

[Anonymous]

For the benefit of any future readers searching for schools with this name, I want to make clear that this school is not our lovely neighborhood school, Highland View ES, also in Silver Spring. I have seen people confuse the two schools on here several times.

[Anonymous]

I think this is very suspicious and deserves more scrutiny. Starr's response is probably more troublesome. He says a couple of things that bother me:

1. He calls it irresponsible journalism. Well, frankly a big spike, followed by a big drop, that includes lots of incentives for cheating (avoid school takeover, win award) is suspicious. I think it is a valid concern worthy of reporting. Methinks though dost protest too much.

2. He says resources have been cut over the years and provides no specifics. Well, Parents Coalition is showing specific budget and resource data from MCPS that don't show a decrease for these particular years. If Starr is going to stick to a vague pronouncement, then I think he loses this battle. This looks really bad for Starr.

3. He misdirects. He says the journalist in question could walk the halls today and see quality teaching. Well, the question isn't about teaching on a given day it is about whether why test scores in 2007 experienced this abnormal increase followed by a dramatic return to the previous levels. Further, he also says the article implies students and teachers must have cheated.

Further, I think dragging sympathetic elementary students into the cheating is a bit much. No one thinks 5th students are organizing and passing cheat sheets so they can do well on the meaningless MSAs. This may not even be tied to all the teachers. In any case, if you want to protect reputations, put out a verifiable and credible explanation for the spike.

4. Finally, this leads me to my last concern. He never directly addresses the main question. Why would test scores rise so dramatically and then fall. It is a fair question. It might have valid reasons, but it is a fair question that deserves an answer.

If Start can't even honestly address this question that does not have any bearing on his tenure, then how can I trust him with information about his own tenure. He seems to just reflexively protect the MCPS bureaucracy.

I am very disappointed in Starr here.

[Anonymous]

It won't be long before a teacher or former teacher comes out of the closet and tells the truth about what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It won't be long before a teacher or former teacher comes out of the closet and tells the truth about what happened.

and it's me! No, actually, I was not there when the big change happened, but I was there for Myrtle's first year, and basically, he's a huge a-hole who takes credit for others hard work. Many teachers left because of him (I left to go part-time at another school, but probably wouldn't have stuck around anyway) and he has talked poorly about these teachers who "couldn't hack it." Nice. I have styaed in touch with many of colleagues there, however. There was no cheating as far as giving the kids answers, testing violations, erasures, etc. However the change did not happen organically or as a result of awesome teaching and learning. It happened because the school taught to the test for the entire year and students learned basically nothing but how to pass MSA. No English language proficiency (ESOL test scores plummeted). Students weren't taught how to write well or decode or comprehend text--they were taught test-taking strategies non-stop. Everything was MSA. There were these ridiculous rallies with kids chanting "MSA! MSA!" and working to earn ridiculous prizes like PSPs, video games, bikes, etc. It was insane.

There are some valid factors pertaining to the rise in scores--the fact that Arcola opened and relieved a huge population issue. the demographics were the same, but just having fewer kids made a difference, even if it means fewer resources. And with the drop, well, Myrtle left, and he was the driving force behind the "reforms" and drastic cuts have been made to resoruces. Schools like Highland are the most protected, but even adjusting student-teacher ratio by one matters. It can mean going from 18 students in a 3rd grade class to 24. And when these are the neediest of students, it is a big impact. so, again, a drop is expected.

But anyway, my point is that while I don't suspect cheating, I agree that there's reason for others to suspect it.

And yes, Highland is different from Highland View. While it's not the greatest school in the world, Highland is in fact a "lovely neighborhood school" to many of its students.

[Anonymous]

MCPS educator here. Agree with previous poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It won't be long before a teacher or former teacher comes out of the closet and tells the truth about what happened.

, he's a huge a-hole who takes credit for others hard work. .

That describes most of the principals that I have known.

[Anonymous]

Wow, Mr. Myrtle was my 5th-grade teacher at Chevy Chase and I heard he did an excellent job when he became the principal at Somerset.