13 MoCo high schools decline in state rankings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Poolesville High school 5 stars

Yes, the least diverse schools are doing great!

MCPS will fix that with the diversity bus.

Kennedy, is pretty UNDIVERSE. It's 60+% Hispanic, 30% black and a smattering of Asian and white. You can peek at the school profile and see the scores to that it's not doing great.

You probably mean "majority-white/Asian" schools are doing great, which is true, somewhat. At least when it comes to test scores, graduation rate, etc.

Lol. Everyone knows that the ultimate in diversity would include NO white people. So Kennedy is almost there.

Wrong, optimal diversity should reflect the county's demographics. If a school, contains just one or two groups it isn't great.

Probably should just reflect the community around the school, not the county. MC in pretty large.

[Anonymous]

MoCo 360 did some useful analysis and got comments from MCPS in the form of Chris Cram: https://moco360.media/2023/12/20/half-of-mcps-top-high-schools-see-drop-in-state-education-report-card/

The high schools that fell from five to four-star ratings were Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Walter Johnson High School and Winston Churchill High.

Cram stated there are limitations to the method in which the state Education Department rates schools, such as relying “on a single data point for measuring academic achievement and growth” like the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics assessments.

“These scores provide an end-of-course view of students’ performance and progress,” he wrote.

Cram added that MCPS uses an Evidence of Learning and Equity Accountability Model to measure student progress, “to provide a more detailed and focused perspective on school success.” He wrote that the approach uses “multiple and frequent measures of students’ progress” and “places a special emphasis on reducing and eliminating disparities in student achievement.”

It's bizarre that Cram and MCPS are taking the old-school line that the snapshot/test is the problem and not the school system. Especially since MCPS's own EOL mirrors the academic declines that MSDE's report card highlights as well. So this weak defense of the sad current state doesn't hold much water. But it's typical MCPS to take zero accountability for the decline and slide within its system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know they totally changed the metrics, right?

+1 I already stated that up thread. Not only that, they even said don't compare it with previous year. Yet, here we are, page after page of ridiculousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know they totally changed the metrics, right?

+1 I already stated that up thread. Not only that, they even said don't compare it with previous year. Yet, here we are, page after page of ridiculousness.

I'll repost for those in the back of the room.

"We want to use caution in comparing this year's ratings to last year's because we know it's not an apples to apples comparison," said Raven Hill with MSDE.

[Anonymous]

Seems like this change just reflects the changes in the county's demographics and its more about students than schools.

[Anonymous]

So they lost a point because they don’t have enough black kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So they lost a point because they don’t have enough black kids?

Where are you getting this from?

[Anonymous]

Wootton is a 5/5 so I don’t think there’s a need to panic about W schools. I didn’t look at all the schools but I agree with others that it’s at least partially dependent on changing demographics. Let’s make sure all kids in MCPS are well fed, safe and supported. That’s the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like this change just reflects the changes in the county's demographics and its more about students than schools.

No. Once again, it's because they changed the way they rank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo 360 did some useful analysis and got comments from MCPS in the form of Chris Cram: https://moco360.media/2023/12/20/half-of-mcps-top-high-schools-see-drop-in-state-education-report-card/

The high schools that fell from five to four-star ratings were Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Walter Johnson High School and Winston Churchill High.

Cram stated there are limitations to the method in which the state Education Department rates schools, such as relying “on a single data point for measuring academic achievement and growth” like the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics assessments.

“These scores provide an end-of-course view of students’ performance and progress,” he wrote.

Cram added that MCPS uses an Evidence of Learning and Equity Accountability Model to measure student progress, “to provide a more detailed and focused perspective on school success.” He wrote that the approach uses “multiple and frequent measures of students’ progress” and “places a special emphasis on reducing and eliminating disparities in student achievement.”

It's bizarre that Cram and MCPS are taking the old-school line that the snapshot/test is the problem and not the school system. Especially since MCPS's own EOL mirrors the academic declines that MSDE's report card highlights as well. So this weak defense of the sad current state doesn't hold much water. But it's typical MCPS to take zero accountability for the decline and slide within its system.

No, the highlighted is false.

[Anonymous]

I know high schools are the focus here, but among teachers I know that teach MS and HS, they all say that so many kids arrive unprepared and lacking in basic skills, particularly reading. If you're a poor reader, it's hard to be successful in any subject.

I didn't fully appreciate what they were talking about until my oldest started ES and we saw how terrible the reading curriculum was (initially the "old" system- 2.0? then Benchmark). We had to teach them phonics at home because they weren't getting it in school. I've heard similar from other parents (or they got a tutor). My younger DC has the advantage of getting RGR at school, thankfully, although the rest of ELA is still lacking. But when MCPS makes poor curriculum choices at the ES level, they are setting up a barrier for students to overcome, and many families don't have the resources to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo 360 did some useful analysis and got comments from MCPS in the form of Chris Cram: https://moco360.media/2023/12/20/half-of-mcps-top-high-schools-see-drop-in-state-education-report-card/

The high schools that fell from five to four-star ratings were Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Walter Johnson High School and Winston Churchill High.

Cram stated there are limitations to the method in which the state Education Department rates schools, such as relying “on a single data point for measuring academic achievement and growth” like the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics assessments.

“These scores provide an end-of-course view of students’ performance and progress,” he wrote.

Cram added that MCPS uses an Evidence of Learning and Equity Accountability Model to measure student progress, “to provide a more detailed and focused perspective on school success.” He wrote that the approach uses “multiple and frequent measures of students’ progress” and “places a special emphasis on reducing and eliminating disparities in student achievement.”

What are you talking about? The majority of students and schools are not meeting MCPS's own benchmarks for its EOL data.

It's bizarre that Cram and MCPS are taking the old-school line that the snapshot/test is the problem and not the school system. Especially since MCPS's own EOL mirrors the academic declines that MSDE's report card highlights as well. So this weak defense of the sad current state doesn't hold much water. But it's typical MCPS to take zero accountability for the decline and slide within its system.

No, the highlighted is false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know they totally changed the metrics, right?

+1 I already stated that up thread. Not only that, they even said don't compare it with previous year. Yet, here we are, page after page of ridiculousness.

I'll repost for those in the back of the room.

"We want to use caution in comparing this year's ratings to last year's because we know it's not an apples to apples comparison," said Raven Hill with MSDE.

If it was this, wouldn't some of the MCPS schools improve their ratings? Did that happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know they totally changed the metrics, right?

+1 I already stated that up thread. Not only that, they even said don't compare it with previous year. Yet, here we are, page after page of ridiculousness.

I'll repost for those in the back of the room.

"We want to use caution in comparing this year's ratings to last year's because we know it's not an apples to apples comparison," said Raven Hill with MSDE.

If it was this, wouldn't some of the MCPS schools improve their ratings? Did that happen?

According to the WUSA article, eight MCPS schools' ratings improved, but none of them were high schools. It does not specify the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is on fire! 5/5 stars.
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/ReportCards/ReportCardSchool/1/H/1/15/0427/0

Haha. Nice. My question was gonna be which schools kept their 5 star rating?
Or rose from 4 to 5. This would show something…