MCPS equity ranking

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprised this hasn’t been discussed here.

https://mocoshow.com/blog/montgomery-county-ranked-2nd-least-equitable-school-district-in-maryland-according-to-report/

Any chance there school system or the BOE even acknowledges this? It’s pretty embarrassing for a system that tries to consider equity in every decision.

Their methodology for ranking seems arbitrary. I doubt the BOE is taking Wallet Hub's ranking all that seriously.

Sounds typical of what MCPS says.

Only 30% of our students are proficient in Algebra? Eh, the scoring must be ‘arbitrary’. The kids all got As and Bs in the class, right? The testing/ranking must be defective.

This is a good example of why statistics without context are meaningless. The 27% or 30% number comes from the number of high schoolers who "pass" the Algebra I MCAP.

Now, grade level math finishes Algebra I in 8th grade. Kids on the accelerated schedule finish Algebra I in 7th grade. So those kids take the MCAP test in either 7th or 8th grades and do not take it in high school. The only kids who take the Algebra I MCAP in high school are the ones who are already below grade level.

So the 30% number is only of kids who are working below grade level. It's not great, and suggests MCPS could do more to help struggling learners, but it does NOT mean that 70% of kids can't pass an Algebra I test. It means that the 70% of the 20% of kids not taking grade level math can not pass an Algebra I test.

Not sure what you mean.

I have a DD who just finished 8th grade. We got the results this past year for the Algebra MCAP for all the kids who took Algebra in 7th grade. These were not ‘struggling learners’.

The stats were simply terrible.

Make as many excuses as you want. But MCPS is failing our kids in Math, no doubt about it. And it’s not just Algebra.

The test wasn't meaningful. It had never been given before that year. The statistic was about the state of Maryland not MCPS.

MCPS is one of the largest school districts in the state of Maryland. It is fair to assume that the 30% proficiency rate is also true for MCPS.

However, if you have a stat showing that a higher percentage of MCPS are proficient in Algebra, I would love to see that stat! And hope that it is true, because our recent results look pretty terrible.

Thank you for quoting the obvious - this sounds like a dig but isn’t. So many folks get on here when state tests come out and say ‘oh that’s not MCPS.’ But MCPS is largest school district and most well funded so those numbers are certainly part of MCPS’ story too.

Well, MCPS always scores much higher than the state on other assessments so safe to assume this flawed test is no different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprised this hasn’t been discussed here.

https://mocoshow.com/blog/montgomery-county-ranked-2nd-least-equitable-school-district-in-maryland-according-to-report/

Any chance there school system or the BOE even acknowledges this? It’s pretty embarrassing for a system that tries to consider equity in every decision.

Their methodology for ranking seems arbitrary. I doubt the BOE is taking Wallet Hub's ranking all that seriously.

Sounds typical of what MCPS says.

Only 30% of our students are proficient in Algebra? Eh, the scoring must be ‘arbitrary’. The kids all got As and Bs in the class, right? The testing/ranking must be defective.

This is a good example of why statistics without context are meaningless. The 27% or 30% number comes from the number of high schoolers who "pass" the Algebra I MCAP.

Now, grade level math finishes Algebra I in 8th grade. Kids on the accelerated schedule finish Algebra I in 7th grade. So those kids take the MCAP test in either 7th or 8th grades and do not take it in high school. The only kids who take the Algebra I MCAP in high school are the ones who are already below grade level.

So the 30% number is only of kids who are working below grade level. It's not great, and suggests MCPS could do more to help struggling learners, but it does NOT mean that 70% of kids can't pass an Algebra I test. It means that the 70% of the 20% of kids not taking grade level math can not pass an Algebra I test.

Not sure what you mean.

I have a DD who just finished 8th grade. We got the results this past year for the Algebra MCAP for all the kids who took Algebra in 7th grade. These were not ‘struggling learners’.

The stats were simply terrible.

Make as many excuses as you want. But MCPS is failing our kids in Math, no doubt about it. And it’s not just Algebra.

The test wasn't meaningful. It had never been given before that year. The statistic was about the state of Maryland not MCPS.

DC who scored over 300 on their map-m got an average score on this test. It seems like they haven't worked out the bugs yet.

Yes, this was the first year they had ever given this test so there's nothing to compare it to. I suspect the problem is mostly the test. DC took AoPS Algebra the same year and managed to score over 90% on their final which is much harder than MCPS; nevertheless, they also only got an average score on the Algebra exam. I think it may require further tuning.

[Anonymous]

The comparison of teachers to feds on this thread is so dumb. If you want to be a fed, go be a fed. Commute, salary requires working during the summer, don't work with kids. Btw not every fed is a GS13 - many more are GS9s-12s. And it's not automatic to get to the next grade, it's based on ::gasp:: performance, which is ::gasp:: determined subjectively, and some people get screwed. If you want to increase teacher pay you need to get behind some kind of merit pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The comparison of teachers to feds on this thread is so dumb. If you want to be a fed, go be a fed. Commute, salary requires working during the summer, don't work with kids. Btw not every fed is a GS13 - many more are GS9s-12s. And it's not automatic to get to the next grade, it's based on ::gasp:: performance, which is ::gasp:: determined subjectively, and some people get screwed. If you want to increase teacher pay you need to get behind some kind of merit pay.

Sure, I think teacher salaries should be comparable and linked to performance. For example, I think a great teacher should be able to max out in 5 years, not 20, if they're on top of their game.