MCPS boasts about 54.9% 3rd ELA proficiency rate in latest MCAP results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Well that test is seriously flawed if no jurisdiction can score over 50% on the math portion.
Even on the ELA, the scores are not great for anyone.
Something is not right with that test.

Or maybe our system is not doing its job? The MCAP is not the only proof point that says our kids are not reading and doing math at proficiency levels that previous generations were capable of doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Are there any policies or procedures that the more successful school systems are following that we should consider following?

That would be a great question that MCPS leadership should be fully prepared to answer in a BOE meeting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone should watch the MCCPTA curriculum committee workshop on Instructional Equity -- some really revealing information on ELA in terms of how far below grade level many of the texts that are used for instruction are (among many other findings). No surprise we're behind as a county.

https://youtu.be/jo7iIvMWT80?si=n3O6bgPaEdY6rb0i

Admittedly on skim, but I did find this presentation interesting. One of the points it made was about secondary reading texts often being below the Common Core recommended Lexiles. But, the examples of below Lexile books were classics like To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men. Do we not agree that students should read those books? Or that teachers should try to select books that students aren't going to hate? There are well-known books at higher Lexiles, but they tend to be longer and/or antiquated. Excerpting longer books is also a complaint topic. We do want kids to be prepared for college, but do they need to be prepared for college in the 9th grade? There are 3 more years of English.

The focus on improving the test scores have led to some bizarre recommendations at the state level - Retain every 3rd grader below grade-level on these tests!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Well that test is seriously flawed if no jurisdiction can score over 50% on the math portion.
Even on the ELA, the scores are not great for anyone.
Something is not right with that test.

Or maybe our system is not doing its job? The MCAP is not the only proof point that says our kids are not reading and doing math at proficiency levels that previous generations were capable of doing.

When you said "our system ", what are referring to? Because no jurisdiction is "doing is job", no one is getting 50% on the math and some are barely making the grade on the ELA.
It tells me that it's not the jurisdictions, but the test to be evaluated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Are there any policies or procedures that the more successful school systems are following that we should consider following?

Which successful school systems are you talking about? Because I don't see any successful school system from these results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Are there any policies or procedures that the more successful school systems are following that we should consider following?

Which successful school systems are you talking about? Because I don't see any successful school system from these results.

Worcester’s 70% ELA proficiency is good, but yeah — no one is doing well with math.

[Anonymous]

Test scores are mostly genetic by middle school and high school. Just take the average of the 4 grandparents’ iq and you’ll have a good guess as to how the kid will test in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test scores are mostly genetic by middle school and high school. Just take the average of the 4 grandparents’ iq and you’ll have a good guess as to how the kid will test in school.

So then it shouldn’t matter whether you send your kid to Stuyvesant or a high school in rural Mississippi. It’s all preordained, apparently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly the levels are so low because of parents, not schools. They just don't care anymore. And many can't. They are struggling, in poverty, or living paycheck to paycheck.

The middle class is shrinking and UMC just uses tutors, and UC go to privates. So most families going to public school are barely staying afloat and the kids and parents are addicted to screens. School is not a priority and parents are now against schools and don't support teachers.

So MCPS has no accountability here? It’s all on parents? Are parents the ones tasked with teaching their kids math?

Parents are tasked with making sure their kids go to school, pay attention in school, and do their homework. That's enough to at least be proficient

So your argument is that 66.6% of MCPS parents are negligent in the ways you describe, which is resulting in our 33.4% Math proficiency score? That argument holds water to you? If so, based on what data are you asserting this claim?

Why not just state plainly that you don't care what happens to kids so long as no criticizes or questions MCPS. Your fake arguments are hollow.

DP. I don't care about any kids other than my own, and I make sure they do well. The parents whose kids are in that 66% should look in the mirror, because if they stepped up their kids would be doing fine.

So if you can just “step up” and your kids will be fine, then why don’t you just homeschool, since apparently the quality of the school is irrelevant to your kids’ success?

I never said it was irrelevant, but in MCPS the quality is sufficient that any student with active parental support will be doing okay, barring those with significant disabilities. Is it possible that a school could be bad enough that even a parent who tries wouldn't get decent results? Sure. That's not the case in MCPS though.

PP makes a good point. It's the parents, like-minded peers, and the community. Same thing applies to other areas beyond education. MCPS covers a large county. So much criticism and so little critical thinking from others!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly the levels are so low because of parents, not schools. They just don't care anymore. And many can't. They are struggling, in poverty, or living paycheck to paycheck.

The middle class is shrinking and UMC just uses tutors, and UC go to privates. So most families going to public school are barely staying afloat and the kids and parents are addicted to screens. School is not a priority and parents are now against schools and don't support teachers.

So MCPS has no accountability here? It’s all on parents? Are parents the ones tasked with teaching their kids math?

Parents are tasked with making sure their kids go to school, pay attention in school, and do their homework. That's enough to at least be proficient

So your argument is that 66.6% of MCPS parents are negligent in the ways you describe, which is resulting in our 33.4% Math proficiency score? That argument holds water to you? If so, based on what data are you asserting this claim?

Why not just state plainly that you don't care what happens to kids so long as no criticizes or questions MCPS. Your fake arguments are hollow.

DP. I don't care about any kids other than my own, and I make sure they do well. The parents whose kids are in that 66% should look in the mirror, because if they stepped up their kids would be doing fine.

So if you can just “step up” and your kids will be fine, then why don’t you just homeschool, since apparently the quality of the school is irrelevant to your kids’ success?

I never said it was irrelevant, but in MCPS the quality is sufficient that any student with active parental support will be doing okay, barring those with significant disabilities. Is it possible that a school could be bad enough that even a parent who tries wouldn't get decent results? Sure. That's not the case in MCPS though.

PP makes a good point. It's the parents, like-minded peers, and the community. Same thing applies to other areas beyond education. MCPS covers a large county. So much criticism and so little critical thinking from others!

If you think parents and other kids can somehow magically make up for below grade level work and way too much time on crappy Chromebooks, then I feel sorry for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Well that test is seriously flawed if no jurisdiction can score over 50% on the math portion.
Even on the ELA, the scores are not great for anyone.
Something is not right with that test.

Or maybe our system is not doing its job? The MCAP is not the only proof point that says our kids are not reading and doing math at proficiency levels that previous generations were capable of doing.

When you said "our system ", what are referring to? Because no jurisdiction is "doing is job", no one is getting 50% on the math and some are barely making the grade on the ELA.
It tells me that it's not the jurisdictions, but the test to be evaluated.

When I said the system, I was talking about MCPS in particular. MCPS has specific failures and shortcomings that this test is highlighting.

The bigger system, which is the MSDE and all of our school systems in aggregate (which also includes MCPS), is also failing. Which is why the the MD State Superintendent Carey Wright said she wants to re-examine MSDE's school report cards because the state's schools can't be as good as they're claiming with these levels of proficiencies.

The state of public education has been failing for a long time now. We're just now catching on to that fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test scores are mostly genetic by middle school and high school. Just take the average of the 4 grandparents’ iq and you’ll have a good guess as to how the kid will test in school.

So then it shouldn’t matter whether you send your kid to Stuyvesant or a high school in rural Mississippi. It’s all preordained, apparently.

Right! People who make the argument that the school doesn't matter know they're lying because they'd never put their kids in a "bad school" to prove out their hypothesis. They're full of it and they know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Well that test is seriously flawed if no jurisdiction can score over 50% on the math portion.
Even on the ELA, the scores are not great for anyone.
Something is not right with that test.

Or maybe our system is not doing its job? The MCAP is not the only proof point that says our kids are not reading and doing math at proficiency levels that previous generations were capable of doing.

When you said "our system ", what are referring to? Because no jurisdiction is "doing is job", no one is getting 50% on the math and some are barely making the grade on the ELA.
It tells me that it's not the jurisdictions, but the test to be evaluated.

When I said the system, I was talking about MCPS in particular. MCPS has specific failures and shortcomings that this test is highlighting.

The bigger system, which is the MSDE and all of our school systems in aggregate (which also includes MCPS), is also failing. Which is why the the MD State Superintendent Carey Wright said she wants to re-examine MSDE's school report cards because the state's schools can't be as good as they're claiming with these levels of proficiencies.

The state of public education has been failing for a long time now. We're just now catching on to that fact.

To your last sentence: some of us have suspected it for awhile. I remember when the Hopkins audit on MCPS came out in 2018. Some of us on here were ringing alarm bells. Most of you dismissed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly the levels are so low because of parents, not schools. They just don't care anymore. And many can't. They are struggling, in poverty, or living paycheck to paycheck.

The middle class is shrinking and UMC just uses tutors, and UC go to privates. So most families going to public school are barely staying afloat and the kids and parents are addicted to screens. School is not a priority and parents are now against schools and don't support teachers.

So MCPS has no accountability here? It’s all on parents? Are parents the ones tasked with teaching their kids math?

Parents are tasked with making sure their kids go to school, pay attention in school, and do their homework. That's enough to at least be proficient

So your argument is that 66.6% of MCPS parents are negligent in the ways you describe, which is resulting in our 33.4% Math proficiency score? That argument holds water to you? If so, based on what data are you asserting this claim?

Why not just state plainly that you don't care what happens to kids so long as no criticizes or questions MCPS. Your fake arguments are hollow.

DP. I don't care about any kids other than my own, and I make sure they do well. The parents whose kids are in that 66% should look in the mirror, because if they stepped up their kids would be doing fine.

So if you can just “step up” and your kids will be fine, then why don’t you just homeschool, since apparently the quality of the school is irrelevant to your kids’ success?

I never said it was irrelevant, but in MCPS the quality is sufficient that any student with active parental support will be doing okay, barring those with significant disabilities. Is it possible that a school could be bad enough that even a parent who tries wouldn't get decent results? Sure. That's not the case in MCPS though.

PP makes a good point. It's the parents, like-minded peers, and the community. Same thing applies to other areas beyond education. MCPS covers a large county. So much criticism and so little critical thinking from others!

So it's everything but the school system that we funnel millions of tax dollars into for the explicit purpose of educating our children? How about you start with the critical thinking first before you talk about anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another look at MCAP results from another source: https://wtop.com/maryland/2024/08/maryland-test-results-show-small-gains-nagging-achievement-gaps-among-demographic-groups/

MCPS claims we're beating state averages, which I guess might be true, but when you roll up all the grade levels and the results, here's how things shake out by Math:



Carroll, Worcester and Howard County Public Schools outperformed MCPS in math.



For ELA, it's worse. Harford, Queen Anne's, Frederick, Calvert, Howard, Carroll, Worcester all outperformed MCPS in ELA.

Well that test is seriously flawed if no jurisdiction can score over 50% on the math portion.
Even on the ELA, the scores are not great for anyone.
Something is not right with that test.

Or maybe our system is not doing its job? The MCAP is not the only proof point that says our kids are not reading and doing math at proficiency levels that previous generations were capable of doing.

When you said "our system ", what are referring to? Because no jurisdiction is "doing is job", no one is getting 50% on the math and some are barely making the grade on the ELA.
It tells me that it's not the jurisdictions, but the test to be evaluated.

When I said the system, I was talking about MCPS in particular. MCPS has specific failures and shortcomings that this test is highlighting.

The bigger system, which is the MSDE and all of our school systems in aggregate (which also includes MCPS), is also failing. Which is why the the MD State Superintendent Carey Wright said she wants to re-examine MSDE's school report cards because the state's schools can't be as good as they're claiming with these levels of proficiencies.

The state of public education has been failing for a long time now. We're just now catching on to that fact.

To your last sentence: some of us have suspected it for awhile. I remember when the Hopkins audit on MCPS came out in 2018. Some of us on here were ringing alarm bells. Most of you dismissed it.

You know what, you're right. I forgot about the 2018 audit. MCPS just gets away with this aura of quality because of its historical reputation, but the truth is the decline has been in the making for at least a decade. And of course the pandemic only worsened the situation.