Reply to Tell me about Sligo Middle school

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]This is spot on. The PP before this poster was being a bit deceitful by omitting that the file she shared had already been adjusted. Kids from Westland need to score much higher on MAP tests to make the list while a kid scoring far lower from Sligo is included because Westland is high performing/high SES and Sligo is low performing/low SES. Its fair and accurate to say that there are up to a dozen students at Sligo that meet the lowered bar for what MCPS considers highly able but that number is still pretty small even with the lower bar for making the list.

I disagree though that the teachers are better or worse at other schools. It takes A LOT to educate low performing kids. You face so many challenges as a teacher at a school like Sligo with kids who have many problems -learning, being far below grade level, under treated learning disabilities, disruptive home environments and no enrichment. Its far easier to teach in a western school.[/quote]

Actually, we don't know at all that the file has been "adjusted." We know that for MS magnet admissions, there was a bit of a sliding scale depending on home school demographics in terms of how the Cogat was assessed. But the file shared by PP doesn't just contain the Cogat. It also has MAP and PARCC. Now, neither Cogat nor MAP scores are available, but PARCC scores are all on Maryland School Report Card.

So, this gets to a debate that is constantly being hashed out on DCUM. Is a school like Westland "better" because they have more kids who score well on standardized tests? If you took that SAME child and sent them to Sligo MS, would they do as well? Basically, is Westland better or does it just have more kids with the demographic qualities that we know translate to higher test scores.

Let's look at how non-FARMS white kids do at both schools.

Westland - For 6th grade ELA: about 10 percent of white students received a 5 on the PARCC exam. 
Sligo - For 6th grade ELA: about 13 percent of white students received a 5.

But wait, you say. That might just be the strength of the Sligo MS feeders. So let's look at 8th grade instead.

Westland - For 8th grade ELA, about 25 percent of students received a 5 on the PARCC exam.
Sligo - For 8th grade ELA, about 22 percent received a 5.

There doesn't seem to be a clear winner in Westland, and certainly not enough for people to "beggar" themselves to move west.

The truth is that a demographically similar kid will do the same at any school where they can find an academic cohort, which is literally any middle school in the county. 
[/quote]
At Sligo, the drop is much steeper.  There is a very large contingent (possible majority) of completely unmotivated kids at Sligo that you won't find at a school like Westland.  Again, there are very smart, highly motivated kids at Sligo.  My daughter is part of that group so she is doing great at Sligo.  After a quick Google search, there is a HUGE difference if you add in PARCC scores of 4.

Westland - 66% of students scored 4 or 5
Sligo - 35% of students scored 4 or 5

This was taken from a 2017 report.  I seriously doubt the numbers changed much.  http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/parcc2017/middle/[/quote]

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