Superintendent Taylor admits there is grade inflation in MCPS during BoE meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math teachers at my high school tell me that the math curriculum for each grade is designed to be fast paced and without depth. Teachers are supposed to move to a new topic practically every day. If a student misses a week of school which is not uncommon, the student misses several concepts which they will not see again for a long time. There is not much practice time built into the curriculum. Couple this with the 50% rule and you have students being pushed up to the next level of math who have learned next to nothing the year before. I don’t teach math so high school math teachers - please correct me if I’m wrong

We have never seen a new topic every day. Nor do we have the 59% rule. Are you a private parent? We have math homework too.

How have you not seen the 50% rule? And several high schools assign minimum to no HW. Teachers are discouraged from giving HW except in AP classes. MCPS calls it an equity issue

My HS student at Blair has 2-4 hours of work a night. Magnet classes aren't crazy or anything. In fact, I think honors spanish 4 is their hardest class. I have seen 0's when they missed something or were absent but think the 50% was ended after the pandemic.

This elimination of the 50% rule is happening at many MS and HS. However, there are some teachers/administrators have not fully gone away from it. And that’s part of the problem. MCPS lets schools do too much of their own thing. Peter Moran and others have said that what is needed is more standardization across schools and I happen to agree. There should be some really clear expectations and policies outlined for Principals/APs and Teachers and then should be judged on their ability to follow and how they help their students achieve within those guidelines and frameworks. Notice I didn’t say anything about all students getting A’s. Because if I see a classroom full of students getting B’s but also can see they are all making great strides in growth and learning that is going to be fine.

Dr. Pugh highlighted a great point at the last presentation with the BOE and that was there are a number of students who are in the cusp of being proficient. As in 1-3 more correct questions on the exams. So a key priority for the district this year should be 1) Keep proficient students proficient and moving them closer to Distinguished Proficiency. 2) Supporting students in the cusp of proficiency to ensure they are proficient by Spring exams.

1-3 questions is kind of a lot on a 40 question test.

[Anonymous]

Grade inflation has been happening for real. Recently I attended our local ES CIP meeting. I happened to learn that the passing rate on classroom/report card was 80-90% for a certain sub group of students, but only 20-30% passing in external standardized tests.

Anonymous wrote:

[starts 2 hours and 20 seconds in]

During the BOE meeting on 9/26, as the board was discussing MCPS's depressing and pitiful math scores and proficiency levels, Board Member Brenda Wolff asked Jennifer Loznak, Supervisor of Secondary Mathematics, if MCPS in fact followed standards-based grading. Loznak gave a long-winded, word salad response, as is typical of MCPS staff, and that's when Brenda cut to the chase and asked, "I guess what I'm really trying to get at is do you see grade inflation in these math grades?"

There was an uncomfortable pause in the room as MCPS staff hesitated to answer. Dr. Taylor, exasperated with the avoiding stating the obvious, turned on his mic and said, "YES! Yes."

You can tell Dr. Taylor was annoyed that he had to be the one to state the obvious, and he's right. His staff should've just answered the question directly. But that's not the MCPS way. Kudos to him for stating what is plain to anyone who has been paying attention and just looks at the glaring disparities between classroom grades and standardized tests like MAP-M, MAP-R, SAT/ACT, AP and IB exams and MCAP. He needs to get the rest of his leadership in order so that questions like this are answered plainly and directly as he did. And furthermore, now that he's acknowledged, on the record, that there is grade inflation in MCPS, what does he plan to do about it?

Hopefully, now that Taylor has stated it clearly, all of the MCPS advocates who criticized those of us who said that MCPS was engaging in grade inflation were lying or falling prey to conspiracy theories can shut up and move on to their next delusional talking point.

[Anonymous]

Don't even open those ES report cards. What is the F point??!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grade inflation has been happening for real. Recently I attended our local ES CIP meeting. I happened to learn that the passing rate on classroom/report card was 80-90% for a certain sub group of students, but only 20-30% passing in external standardized tests.

Anonymous wrote:

[starts 2 hours and 20 seconds in]

During the BOE meeting on 9/26, as the board was discussing MCPS's depressing and pitiful math scores and proficiency levels, Board Member Brenda Wolff asked Jennifer Loznak, Supervisor of Secondary Mathematics, if MCPS in fact followed standards-based grading. Loznak gave a long-winded, word salad response, as is typical of MCPS staff, and that's when Brenda cut to the chase and asked, "I guess what I'm really trying to get at is do you see grade inflation in these math grades?"

There was an uncomfortable pause in the room as MCPS staff hesitated to answer. Dr. Taylor, exasperated with the avoiding stating the obvious, turned on his mic and said, "YES! Yes."

You can tell Dr. Taylor was annoyed that he had to be the one to state the obvious, and he's right. His staff should've just answered the question directly. But that's not the MCPS way. Kudos to him for stating what is plain to anyone who has been paying attention and just looks at the glaring disparities between classroom grades and standardized tests like MAP-M, MAP-R, SAT/ACT, AP and IB exams and MCAP. He needs to get the rest of his leadership in order so that questions like this are answered plainly and directly as he did. And furthermore, now that he's acknowledged, on the record, that there is grade inflation in MCPS, what does he plan to do about it?

Hopefully, now that Taylor has stated it clearly, all of the MCPS advocates who criticized those of us who said that MCPS was engaging in grade inflation were lying or falling prey to conspiracy theories can shut up and move on to their next delusional talking point.

I don't think this really matters. It's all relative. Many classes like my son's magnet functions class engage in grade deflation. If you want more challenging classes, try signing up for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math teachers at my high school tell me that the math curriculum for each grade is designed to be fast paced and without depth. Teachers are supposed to move to a new topic practically every day. If a student misses a week of school which is not uncommon, the student misses several concepts which they will not see again for a long time. There is not much practice time built into the curriculum. Couple this with the 50% rule and you have students being pushed up to the next level of math who have learned next to nothing the year before. I don’t teach math so high school math teachers - please correct me if I’m wrong

We have never seen a new topic every day. Nor do we have the 59% rule. Are you a private parent? We have math homework too.

How have you not seen the 50% rule? And several high schools assign minimum to no HW. Teachers are discouraged from giving HW except in AP classes. MCPS calls it an equity issue

My HS student at Blair has 2-4 hours of work a night. Magnet classes aren't crazy or anything. In fact, I think honors spanish 4 is their hardest class. I have seen 0's when they missed something or were absent but think the 50% was ended after the pandemic.

2-4hrs/night, on top of extended day, and clubs/sports/music is a crazy amount of homework.
Great for kids who want it and get handle it, though.

Normal amount of homework. Pace your kid's extracurriculars!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grade inflation has been happening for real. Recently I attended our local ES CIP meeting. I happened to learn that the passing rate on classroom/report card was 80-90% for a certain sub group of students, but only 20-30% passing in external standardized tests.

Anonymous wrote:

[starts 2 hours and 20 seconds in]

During the BOE meeting on 9/26, as the board was discussing MCPS's depressing and pitiful math scores and proficiency levels, Board Member Brenda Wolff asked Jennifer Loznak, Supervisor of Secondary Mathematics, if MCPS in fact followed standards-based grading. Loznak gave a long-winded, word salad response, as is typical of MCPS staff, and that's when Brenda cut to the chase and asked, "I guess what I'm really trying to get at is do you see grade inflation in these math grades?"

There was an uncomfortable pause in the room as MCPS staff hesitated to answer. Dr. Taylor, exasperated with the avoiding stating the obvious, turned on his mic and said, "YES! Yes."

You can tell Dr. Taylor was annoyed that he had to be the one to state the obvious, and he's right. His staff should've just answered the question directly. But that's not the MCPS way. Kudos to him for stating what is plain to anyone who has been paying attention and just looks at the glaring disparities between classroom grades and standardized tests like MAP-M, MAP-R, SAT/ACT, AP and IB exams and MCAP. He needs to get the rest of his leadership in order so that questions like this are answered plainly and directly as he did. And furthermore, now that he's acknowledged, on the record, that there is grade inflation in MCPS, what does he plan to do about it?

Hopefully, now that Taylor has stated it clearly, all of the MCPS advocates who criticized those of us who said that MCPS was engaging in grade inflation were lying or falling prey to conspiracy theories can shut up and move on to their next delusional talking point.

I don't think this really matters. It's all relative. Many classes like my son's magnet functions class engage in grade deflation. If you want more challenging classes, try signing up for them.

Our non magnet math classes aren’t. No retakes. It’s hard. Maybe Blair magnet or that class or teacher is bad. Our ap cal is tuff but it’s also hard with no textbook and limited instruction.

[Anonymous]

Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Principals could start by having their teachers enter grades on time, not after they are due. It could help curb grade inflation. Students may submit assignments on time, but teachers haven't entered scores so grades are not accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Yup. I agree with you. But here's where it flips back on CO: If they left their offices or homes (apparently a significant chunk of CO staff are still WFH) more and spent more time in schools regularly they'd be in a much better position to enforce and spot the problems that are happening.

We also need to really re-examine the power we've given to principals and MCAAP. People complain about MCEA and their power and influence, but MCAAP is the real power broker here and no one seems to realize that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Yup. I agree with you. But here's where it flips back on CO: If they left their offices or homes (apparently a significant chunk of CO staff are still WFH) more and spent more time in schools regularly they'd be in a much better position to enforce and spot the problems that are happening.

We also need to really re-examine the power we've given to principals and MCAAP. People complain about MCEA and their power and influence, but MCAAP is the real power broker here and no one seems to realize that.

How so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Yup. I agree with you. But here's where it flips back on CO: If they left their offices or homes (apparently a significant chunk of CO staff are still WFH) more and spent more time in schools regularly they'd be in a much better position to enforce and spot the problems that are happening.

We also need to really re-examine the power we've given to principals and MCAAP. People complain about MCEA and their power and influence, but MCAAP is the real power broker here and no one seems to realize that.

Haven't they all been teachers before, so they've BTDT? Or is it not a requirement to have had experience in a school before landing a cushy job at CO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Yup. I agree with you. But here's where it flips back on CO: If they left their offices or homes (apparently a significant chunk of CO staff are still WFH) more and spent more time in schools regularly they'd be in a much better position to enforce and spot the problems that are happening.

We also need to really re-examine the power we've given to principals and MCAAP. People complain about MCEA and their power and influence, but MCAAP is the real power broker here and no one seems to realize that.

How so?

Because principals have nearly unchecked power in MCPS. Even their directors and associate superintendents can't really force them to do anything they don't want to do. Principals have incredible latitude and power to make decisions about things, such as what security/safety incidents get reported to CO, what gets communicated to the community, how the school's budget is spent, which teachers they hire and their assignments, etc.

This untouchable status is rooted in the contract that MCAAP has negotiated with MCPS. If MCPS negotiated a contract with MCAAP that checked more of this power, we'd be able to reign principals in more and even fire them.

This unchecked power of principals is why Beidleman got away with what he did for as long as he did: He knew no one would do anything about it. It's also why bad principals who are found negligent or liable, such as former Damascus High School principal Casey Crouse, don't get fired from the system, but are given cushy, nonsense jobs in HR: https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/05/damascus-principal-struck-deal-to-resign-retain-160k-salary-in-mcps-office-job/.

MCAAP has our school system in a vice grip. We need to claw back this power from principals. It's hurting teachers and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Were grades inflated in Q1 of Taylor's first year?

How would he have changed it? MCPS is a system of schools. The principals get leeway to do whatever they want. CO offers guidelines and policies but enforcement is nonexistent.

And the bolded is the problem. If the system wants to grant principals a large amount of leeway to do what they want (which isn’t always a bad thing) then the principals and their staff need be held to account for mastery of standards, achievement of proficient scores, performance of staff, and innovation. Otherwise, there needs to be a lot more standardization of implementation and practices so there can be effective measurement on what is working and what is not.

Yup. I agree with you. But here's where it flips back on CO: If they left their offices or homes (apparently a significant chunk of CO staff are still WFH) more and spent more time in schools regularly they'd be in a much better position to enforce and spot the problems that are happening.

We also need to really re-examine the power we've given to principals and MCAAP. People complain about MCEA and their power and influence, but MCAAP is the real power broker here and no one seems to realize that.

Haven't they all been teachers before, so they've BTDT? Or is it not a requirement to have had experience in a school before landing a cushy job at CO?

I think many CO staff have been teachers but I don't believe that's a requirement for everyone in CO. It depends on the job function, as I can't imagine it's a requirement to be a teacher before working in HR, although I do know many former teachers and educators transition into many roles that they don't have formal training or background in like HR....