I forget: Were the tests given at the end of last year or the beginning of this school year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the focus on geometry. Most kids don’t take geometry till high school.

I had the same question. Were middle school geometry students chosen as a bellwether? Will other components of math be analyzed next?

Yes other math and other standardized testing and other grade levels will be looked at next

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't there also a test change? The first year or two after a test change always includes huge decreases until the test prep catches up. That's how ridiculous testing is- it is all about making sure the kids understand the types of questions being asked and what is looked for.

I am not saying that kids were not impacted due to COVID, but you can't really compare the 2021 results with previous years.

Yes, it's a different test but don't let that stop you from inventing a crisis.

Maybe if they had used the same test we could draw conclusions but they didn't so this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. It seems like it's just the change in test that we're looking at.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the focus on geometry. Most kids don’t take geometry till high school.

I had the same question. Were middle school geometry students chosen as a bellwether? Will other components of math be analyzed next?

NP. I'm also not saying there isn't a *real* problem given virtual learning. But the results are from different tests-- up to 2019 it was PARCC And in 2021, it was MCAP (right? and the article calls it an abbreviated version of the MCAP.) Also, it's not clear that teachers/schools took the test prep as seriously across these years. I recall a lot of prep prior to the PARCC (because it was a hot button issue at our school) and I don't recall that my kid even took MCAP last year (they did-- I received a score report, but it was so much less hoopla that I didn't even recall it happening!)

Again-- I think there is a problem with math score decline. But I don't think 2021 data accurately measure the problem.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the focus on geometry. Most kids don’t take geometry till high school.

It would be a bellwether of high-achieving students then.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand the focus on geometry. Most kids don’t take geometry till high school.

It’s just one set of data. We have data for about 5 of these reports. Different subjects and different grade levels. Will post the follow ups in thread

I don’t understand the focus on geometry. Most kids don’t take geometry till high school.

Not sure how meaningful breaking down the decrease by school cluster is. Just seems to indicate that the in-person closures for the least at-risk population were a catastrophe for the entire district.

Wasn't there also a test change? The first year or two after a test change always includes huge decreases until the test prep catches up. That's how ridiculous testing is- it is all about making sure the kids understand the types of questions being asked and what is looked for.

I am not saying that kids were not impacted due to COVID, but you can't really compare the 2021 results with previous years.

Well, I feel a bit better about my kid’s score, knowing that just over 1/3 of the kids in her school passed it. She was barely below proficient, and we already knew virtual learning was pretty terrible for her in general (inattentive ADHD and Zoom are NOT a good mix).

Fortunately, she’s a quick learner, and hopefully she should be able to regroup and fill in gaps on her own as she runs across them. But her Algebra 2 teacher has already had to squeeze in at least one additional lesson to teach a geometry concept that had been skipped, so they could then teach the Algebra 2 lesson that builds on it.

Anonymous wrote:Here is the table for those that don't want to click on the link.


Table 1. Percent proficient students in Middle School Geometry by school and year. Percent of proficient students is indicated by green (75 to 100%), yellow (50 to <75%), orange (25 to <50%), red (0 to <25%), and gray (fewer that 5% tested/reported, *, or blank in state data).

Thank you… I didn’t realize you can add images here.

Here is the table for those that don't want to click on the link.


Table 1. Percent proficient students in Middle School Geometry by school and year. Percent of proficient students is indicated by green (75 to 100%), yellow (50 to <75%), orange (25 to <50%), red (0 to <25%), and gray (fewer that 5% tested/reported, *, or blank in state data).

This is the first of a series of detailed school by school (and cluster by cluster) breakdown of MCPS test scores from 2017-2021.

For this one looking at middle school geometry, the results are pretty devastating with huge drops in proficiency across the board.

“All schools showed a dramatic decrease in proficiency

There was a 62.4% average decrease across the 38 schools reporting data in 2021. Decreases ranged from the best – 44.6% fewer proficient students at Francis Scott Key Middle to the worst – 82.2% fewer proficient students at Shady Grove Middle.

8 schools (21%) had decreases between 44.6 and 50%.
20 schools (53%) had decreases between 50 and 75%.
10 schools (26%) had decreases of 70% or more.”

Full report and data:

https://moderatelymoco.com/mcps-middle-school-geometry-proficiency-test-score-data-by-school-over-time-and-analysis/