Reply to MCPS Math Failures: Will exams come back when PARCC goes

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does anyone on this thread have an actual high school student?! Many HS courses require a cumulative exam (IB, AP, PLTW).[/quote]

Yes, I'm poster 20:08.

I have one high school senior and one college student.  They both took AP courses and AP tests.  I think the AP tests provided the educational benefits described above.

It also enables an evaluation of the course.  If students from an AP class take an AP test and most of them score 5s, that class is viewed a success, because at least at the time the test was taken, the students had a good grasp of the course material.  If most of the students scored ones, I suspect the course would be analyzed and changed.

When MCPS students failed their finals, the county changed the grades and eventually just did away with finals.

https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-schools-adjusts-final-algebra-grade-after-more-than-80-percent-fail-exam-104667

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wtop.com/montgomery-county/2015/07/montgomery-county-final-exam-failures-continue/amp/

I think it's telling that the programs which are academically respected (IB, AP, PLTW, and most college classes) require finals.  That would seem to indicate there is academic merit in taking a cumulative final.  It seems like MCPS students would benefit from the same practice.

[/quote]

There are some points to clarify.  AP and IB offer external assessments through College Board and IBO. There are no system-wide finals for these courses. IB is a program; AP courses are just that - courses.  Any kid can sit for an AP test w/o having to take a course.  In fact, many IB students sit for both and do well on both.

Yes, teachers are important "factors" determining success. However, if you have a student with a 900 lexile entering an AP course, that student will definitely not earn a 4 or 5 - and may not even skim a 3.  So even a great teacher can't perform miracles.

As a system casts a wider net, which is what's done in the name of equity, while ignoring success factors, more and more "900 lexilers" are pushed up.

new learning, folks - You can't expect a kid who's several grade levels behind in reading to suddenly catch up b/c s/he is placed in a rigorous course.

This is only a way to mask a problem.  So I'll say this much - that while we preach equity, it's only a way to hide the truth behind participation numbers.

Until we ramp up rigor across the board - starting in upper elementary (b/c I'm not a fan of watching little kids sit in desks all day long) - we will continue to find new ways to disguise this problem.

How many of you are familiar with this? 
https://eoschools.org/

MCPS has a contract with them.  I don't know where the onus is on the student, however - https://eoschools.org/approach/action-for-equity/

This is where some of the money goes.

http://mcpsmd.swagit.com/play/09122017-1798
2017 presentation, item 12 at 3:10

EOS loves increasing participation and changing mindsets.  But what do you do with the child reading at the 900 lexile level who's expected to tackle [i]The Age of Innocence[/i]?[/quote]

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