MCAP results are pretty bad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t put too much stock in this assessment. Sometime we need to evaluate the validity of assessments.

And to the person trying to compare public schools to private, do private schools take the MCAP? I’m assuming they don’t. Furthermore, I wonder how public schools would do if they made students qualify for admission, and exclude any highly impacted students such as those with special needs or new to the English language, or those that can barely afford to feed their children, let alone pay for private tutors.

This. Have the state go ask all the surrounding private schools how many would be willing to test their 3rd and 5th grade students. They would freak. Privates barely share score information with parents when they do test.

Not true. My kid took Iowa assessments and some other standardized test (can't think of the same right now) in his Catholic MS. He also took the HSPT and got the results from all of these tests rather quickly.

Yes, private school parent here too - our school shared results with the community almost immediately and there was no covid slide at all.

MCPS is doing much better than the rest of the state, but the parents who neglected their children and let them goof off during virtual had an impact.

I’m sure a lot of parents did that but at least for my child, she did not perform well on this test and we were extremely diligent about virtual. There was no goofing off and all of her work and assignments were completed and on time.

There are so many parents that did. This board is full of posters who think it's the state's job to raise their kids even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t put too much stock in this assessment. Sometime we need to evaluate the validity of assessments.

And to the person trying to compare public schools to private, do private schools take the MCAP? I’m assuming they don’t. Furthermore, I wonder how public schools would do if they made students qualify for admission, and exclude any highly impacted students such as those with special needs or new to the English language, or those that can barely afford to feed their children, let alone pay for private tutors.

This. Have the state go ask all the surrounding private schools how many would be willing to test their 3rd and 5th grade students. They would freak. Privates barely share score information with parents when they do test.

Not true. My kid took Iowa assessments and some other standardized test (can't think of the same right now) in his Catholic MS. He also took the HSPT and got the results from all of these tests rather quickly.

Yes, private school parent here too - our school shared results with the community almost immediately and there was no covid slide at all.

I agree. test shows the performance of kids in real terms. We can make up all kinds of reasons for poor performance. What this shows is that we have a lot of work to do to prep the kids for a bright future. Over 70 did not meet on both ELA and Math and Academics need to be prioritized over everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t put too much stock in this assessment. Sometime we need to evaluate the validity of assessments.

And to the person trying to compare public schools to private, do private schools take the MCAP? I’m assuming they don’t. Furthermore, I wonder how public schools would do if they made students qualify for admission, and exclude any highly impacted students such as those with special needs or new to the English language, or those that can barely afford to feed their children, let alone pay for private tutors.

This. Have the state go ask all the surrounding private schools how many would be willing to test their 3rd and 5th grade students. They would freak. Privates barely share score information with parents when they do test.

You will be surprise to see the huge gap in knowledge and thinking between public and private schools. Having known this difference, we have been thinking about private schools for past several months so that we do not have to deal with theatrics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t put too much stock in this assessment. Sometime we need to evaluate the validity of assessments.

And to the person trying to compare public schools to private, do private schools take the MCAP? I’m assuming they don’t. Furthermore, I wonder how public schools would do if they made students qualify for admission, and exclude any highly impacted students such as those with special needs or new to the English language, or those that can barely afford to feed their children, let alone pay for private tutors.

This. Have the state go ask all the surrounding private schools how many would be willing to test their 3rd and 5th grade students. They would freak. Privates barely share score information with parents when they do test.

You will be surprise to see the huge gap in knowledge and thinking between public and private schools. Having known this difference, we have been thinking about private schools for past several months so that we do not have to deal with theatrics.

If you're so sold, why the hesitation?

[Anonymous]

I am not typically an mcps apologist, but, I don't know if MCPS has ever taught to the MCAP (schools used to absolutely prep for previous standardized tests). Couple that with curriculum changes and covid, does not surprise that those scores are in the dumps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t put too much stock in this assessment. Sometime we need to evaluate the validity of assessments.

And to the person trying to compare public schools to private, do private schools take the MCAP? I’m assuming they don’t. Furthermore, I wonder how public schools would do if they made students qualify for admission, and exclude any highly impacted students such as those with special needs or new to the English language, or those that can barely afford to feed their children, let alone pay for private tutors.

This. Have the state go ask all the surrounding private schools how many would be willing to test their 3rd and 5th grade students. They would freak. Privates barely share score information with parents when they do test.

Not true. My kid took Iowa assessments and some other standardized test (can't think of the same right now) in his Catholic MS. He also took the HSPT and got the results from all of these tests rather quickly.

Yes, private school parent here too - our school shared results with the community almost immediately and there was no covid slide at all.

MCPS is doing much better than the rest of the state, but the parents who neglected their children and let them goof off during virtual had an impact.

DCUM LOL!

The truth hurts. “LOL!”

[Anonymous]

I’m actually pretty pro-test but anyone that thinks these MCAp results are meaningful doesn’t know anything about the test. It was a terribly written test that tested students on material that had not been covered in a format that was convoluted and unfamiliar to them.

I’m laughing at the pP who said her private school used the Iowa test. I never got below a 99% on the Iowa test. It is pretty much the easiest standardized test in existence. I grew up wondering what the schools in Iowa were like, given how easy that test was.

I tried some of the McAP problems a few years ago and I couldn’t figure out what half of them were even asking. I don’t know if last year’s administration was the old test, though, or the new one they are moving to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not typically an mcps apologist, but, I don't know if MCPS has ever taught to the MCAP (schools used to absolutely prep for previous standardized tests). Couple that with curriculum changes and covid, does not surprise that those scores are in the dumps.

But those are not MCPS scores. They are the whole state scores.
Many people are confusing these two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m actually pretty pro-test but anyone that thinks these MCAp results are meaningful doesn’t know anything about the test. It was a terribly written test that tested students on material that had not been covered in a format that was convoluted and unfamiliar to them.

I’m laughing at the pP who said her private school used the Iowa test. I never got below a 99% on the Iowa test. It is pretty much the easiest standardized test in existence. I grew up wondering what the schools in Iowa were like, given how easy that test was.

I tried some of the McAP problems a few years ago and I couldn’t figure out what half of them were even asking. I don’t know if last year’s administration was the old test, though, or the new one they are moving to.

My kids got 5's on this stuff every time. I think it was pretty minimal. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not typically an mcps apologist, but, I don't know if MCPS has ever taught to the MCAP (schools used to absolutely prep for previous standardized tests). Couple that with curriculum changes and covid, does not surprise that those scores are in the dumps.

But those are not MCPS scores. They are the whole state scores.[b]
Many people are confusing these two.

It was another deliberate effort to mislead people and say OMG MCPS is failing!!! MCPS is doing great despite the complains of some DCUM posters who likely don't even live here and have some political agenda.

[Anonymous]

So how important is MCAP score or what is it used for ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how important is MCAP score or what is it used for ?

It's meaningless to the kids, so they don't try.

[Anonymous]

Then why are people complaining if this is a meaningless test, poorly written, that is not aligned to the curriculum? Serious question. At best, was this just a waste of time?

[Anonymous]

I haven't received my child's scores for last year yet, but I am old enough to remember pre-covid MCAP and PARCC scores. They were bad then too, at the state level.

I'm sure someone with a background in education policy can come explain the history of these tests, but I seem to recall it had something to do with NCLB and is now generally understood to have been poorly designed and not a great use of classroom time.

However, it's a state (national?) mandate, so it get administered every year, a lot of kids "fail" every year, and on and on we go.

[Anonymous]

If your child fall under met expectations does that mean anything vs approached expectations.