Westbrook and relatively low PARCC test scores

[Anonymous]

Westbrook has one of the lowest FARM rate in all of MoCo school and has a highly-educated parent population. Yet, its PARCC scores are not as good as other MoCo elementary schools in the area like Bannockburn, Carcderock, Bradley Hills, etc. Any thoughts as to why Westbrook’s PARCC scores are not that good?

[Anonymous]

Maybe they don't care about them? They are pretty meaningless.

[Anonymous]

Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

I think the reason people do that, at least when they’re just moving here, is because it’s hard to access additional information about the schools. We looked at GS and Niche when we were looking at where to buy a place because we didn’t know anyone who could tell us direct info about schools. I wish there was a better way to figure out what schools are like before you’re already invested in a place, but I don’t know of one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

I think the reason people do that, at least when they’re just moving here, is because it’s hard to access additional information about the schools. We looked at GS and Niche when we were looking at where to buy a place because we didn’t know anyone who could tell us direct info about schools. I wish there was a better way to figure out what schools are like before you’re already invested in a place, but I don’t know of one.

Sure.. but even some people who live in MoCo go by test scores. Is OP a newbie to MoCo?

Why is MAP score anymore important than PARCC scores?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

pp here... I agree with you. It's like saying "poll numbers are accurate when the approval numbers for me are high, but it's not accurate when the numbers are low".

[Anonymous]

It's because most of the smart kids in those neighborhoods go private.

[Anonymous]

you should probably look at them over time. I remember 2 years ago when I was buying, Westbrook scores were similar to other BCC and Whitman cluster schools we were considering. They have droppped (as reflected in their GS rating), but I haven't looked at them enough to see if it's an issue of a single bad year in testing or a general trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

Yep!

That’s how W school people explain why QO has lower test scores. Apparently upcounty parents don’t care as much about excellence, compared to downcounty parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

Yup!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

So do people agree that schools like Westbrook is considered a good school just because of its racial/socioeconomic demographics although the test scores do not back it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are PARCC scores out already for this past school year? I agree PARCC is pretty pointless especially when you don't get the scores back until AFTER your child has moved to the next grade. NWEA MAP is truly reflective.

yet, so many parents look at school ratings, which are in part based on parcc scores around here, to determine what schools are "good".

Eh. People look at demographics, and then use test scores to justify the decision to live in highly segregated neighborhoods like the one that feeds into Westbrook. You'll notice folks are much more comfortable with low test scores when the percentage of white and Asian kids is higher.

It's basically a logical fallacy. If a school full of upper middle class white and Asian kids has low test scores (ahemWhitman), then it is because the test is stupid, the kids are too smart to bother with it, and the school doesn't teach to the test anyway.

But if a school full of working class Black and Latinx kids has low test scores, it is because there is no culture of excellence in those communities.

So do people agree that schools like Westbrook is considered a good school just because of its racial/socioeconomic demographics although the test scores do not back it up.

I agree that conventional wisdom holds that it is a good school, because conventional wisdom holds that the most important thing about a school is that it be sufficiently segregated. However, were I a Westbrook parent, I'd have a lot of questions about why nearby schools with identical demographics have higher scores.

[Anonymous]

Is the school a special education hub, causing a bimodal distribution of scores? Dufief Elementary in North Potomac has that peculiarity. I know nothing about Westbrook, to be clear.