How is it possible that Walt Whitman high school has a score of 4 on greatschools.org??

[Anonymous]

There is so much wrong and sad here. And who knows what is true and what is rumor/justification. I just can't imagine a parent or a teacher encouraging a child to "tank" a test - that is very different than not prepping for the test, which I could see a school legitimately not doing especially if the prep would interfere with planned teaching/learning time. I also can't believe that people put credence into these kinds of rankings that are so variable and easily manipulated.

[Anonymous]

No dog in this fight, but from what I can discern people are angry at Whitman students for tanking a test that the teachers/administrators told them - at least that one year - was of no particular consequence. So they impugn the character and work ethic of the Whitman students, as opposed to what they'd do every other year, which is to attribute the success of Whitman students to their parents' SES, rather than to the students' intelligence or diligence.

Given that you'd dump on the Whitman kids under either scenario, I'm not sure the teachers/administrators were wrong to tell the students that the PARCC exams were of no great consequence that year. It's not like students there don't have other pressures to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Putting aside the value judgment of whether it's okay to not do your best on a standardized test that has no impact on you personally, it does appear that's likely what happened given that Whitman's passage rate on the English exam went from 20% to 90% from 2016 to 2017.

Actually 91%. Looks to be among the highest, if not the highest, in the state. What's shocking to me scrolling through the results is how appalling low the pass rates are in so many of the schools (especially outside MCPS).

Is the math test given to all HS kids or just those completing Alg 1 in HS? I'm wondering why the math scores are so much lower than the english scores but if it's only measuring kids taking Alg 1 in high school, who are the weaker math students, that would explain it.

Yes, as you can see from the smaller number of students tested, the HS Alg1 score is only aggregating HS students taking Alg1 in HS. Middle schools should also have an Alg 1 score reported, and it is usually higher than the HS scores.

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess we switch to the explanation given when majority minority schools like KIPP do well.

"They're just teaching to the test."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No dog in this fight, but from what I can discern people are angry at Whitman students for tanking a test that the teachers/administrators told them - at least that one year - was of no particular consequence. So they impugn the character and work ethic of the Whitman students, as opposed to what they'd do every other year, which is to attribute the success of Whitman students to their parents' SES, rather than to the students' intelligence or diligence.

Given that you'd dump on the Whitman kids under either scenario, I'm not sure the teachers/administrators were wrong to tell the students that the PARCC exams were of no great consequence that year. It's not like students there don't have other pressures to deal with.

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

This. How many posters on here from the W schools use the Greatschools rankings to impugn the high schools east of 270? Now they want a mulligan from the rankings because their snowflakes were told to take a dive on the test. Nobody takes glee in a school's rankings plummeting. But some of us do take great joy in seeing a ridiculous double standard exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

This. How many posters on here from the W schools use the Greatschools rankings to impugn the high schools east of 270? Now they want a mulligan from the rankings because their snowflakes were told to take a dive on the test. Nobody takes glee in a school's rankings plummeting. But some of us do take great joy in seeing a ridiculous double standard exposed.

It isn't really a double standard. I double standard would be saying that inability to do well on the test east of 270 reflects poorly on those students/schools/families, but the inability to do well on the test somehow doesn't reflect the same of Whitman students/schools/families.

But it appears that many Whitman students made a conscious decision to do poorly on the test that one year, given the dramatic one year drop and the equally dramatic rise back to normal score levels. A conscience decision to fail the test is not the same as the inability to pass it despite one's best efforts.

One can very reasonably argue that consciously failing a test raised all sorts of issues about Whitman and its students/families in which they may not look good overall and/or relative to their peers elsewhere in the county. But that is a different issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

This. How many posters on here from the W schools use the Greatschools rankings to impugn the high schools east of 270? Now they want a mulligan from the rankings because their snowflakes were told to take a dive on the test. Nobody takes glee in a school's rankings plummeting. But some of us do take great joy in seeing a ridiculous double standard exposed.

It isn't really a double standard. I double standard would be saying that inability to do well on the test east of 270 reflects poorly on those students/schools/families, but the inability to do well on the test somehow doesn't reflect the same of Whitman students/schools/families.

But it appears that many Whitman students made a conscious decision to do poorly on the test that one year, given the dramatic one year drop and the equally dramatic rise back to normal score levels. A conscience decision to fail the test is not the same as the inability to pass it despite one's best efforts.

One can very reasonably argue that consciously failing a test raised all sorts of issues about Whitman and its students/families in which they may not look good overall and/or relative to their peers elsewhere in the county. But that is a different issue.

Maybe those in the DCC realized the tests don't matter years before obedient sheep west of 270 figured it out for one year and then complied again.

The fact that never crossed some readers' minds is the double standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

This. How many posters on here from the W schools use the Greatschools rankings to impugn the high schools east of 270? Now they want a mulligan from the rankings because their snowflakes were told to take a dive on the test. Nobody takes glee in a school's rankings plummeting. But some of us do take great joy in seeing a ridiculous double standard exposed.

It isn't really a double standard. I double standard would be saying that inability to do well on the test east of 270 reflects poorly on those students/schools/families, but the inability to do well on the test somehow doesn't reflect the same of Whitman students/schools/families.

But it appears that many Whitman students made a conscious decision to do poorly on the test that one year, given the dramatic one year drop and the equally dramatic rise back to normal score levels. A conscience decision to fail the test is not the same as the inability to pass it despite one's best efforts.

One can very reasonably argue that consciously failing a test raised all sorts of issues about Whitman and its students/families in which they may not look good overall and/or relative to their peers elsewhere in the county. But that is a different issue.

Maybe those in the DCC realized the tests don't matter years before obedient sheep west of 270 figured it out for one year and then complied again.

The fact that never crossed some readers' minds is the double standard.

No - to think that DCC students and/or Whitman students intentionally tank tests is a really jaded and pessimistic way to think. I'm a pp and I'm gonna repeat what I said above - the biggest problem to me with all of this is that student may be encouraged by teachers, school admin and/or parents to TANK a test - again, that is very different than not prepping for a test. The students are still "sheep" in both cases bc they are following some adults' edicts/encouragement, and the adults are setting a horrible example. If the admin or parents at Whitman (or any other high school) wanted to protest the exam, there were many ways they could have done it without putting the ball onto the students and thus reflecting on the students' performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't care if Whitman students tank a test. I guess I care, as a member of society, if a teacher/administrator told them to tank a test. I do care when people use the lower test scores of the non-western/wealthy/white high schools in the county to show that the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good (or that the students who attend the non-western/wealthy/white high schools are no good) but discount the lower test scores of Whitman on grounds that the students could have done well if they'd felt like it.

This. How many posters on here from the W schools use the Greatschools rankings to impugn the high schools east of 270? Now they want a mulligan from the rankings because their snowflakes were told to take a dive on the test. Nobody takes glee in a school's rankings plummeting. But some of us do take great joy in seeing a ridiculous double standard exposed.

It isn't really a double standard. I double standard would be saying that inability to do well on the test east of 270 reflects poorly on those students/schools/families, but the inability to do well on the test somehow doesn't reflect the same of Whitman students/schools/families.

But it appears that many Whitman students made a conscious decision to do poorly on the test that one year, given the dramatic one year drop and the equally dramatic rise back to normal score levels. A conscience decision to fail the test is not the same as the inability to pass it despite one's best efforts.

One can very reasonably argue that consciously failing a test raised all sorts of issues about Whitman and its students/families in which they may not look good overall and/or relative to their peers elsewhere in the county. But that is a different issue.

Except it isn't realistic for that to happen at DCC schools year after year - not because those students are inferior - but because it is very unlikely something like this would happen repeatedly. You would need a group of students to make the same decision, year after year. If you believ this was teacher initiated, you would need it to again happen year after year. Apparently the students and/or teachers at Whitman would read the riot act and the scores went up again this year. I would absolutely believe that a DCC school who had a one year dramatic drop was due to tanking, but that isn't what is occurred. That also means there isn't a double standard.

Maybe those in the DCC realized the tests don't matter years before obedient sheep west of 270 figured it out for one year and then complied again.

The fact that never crossed some readers' minds is the double standard.