Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a pretty poor process if "academic achievement and growth for students is measured solely on one data point—the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) results" because the state has already acknowledged PARCC is flawed and already plans to replace it.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-parcc-replacement-test-20180905-story.html

Here's this brand new tool that we are going to judge all your schools by, except it is based on a crappy test. The state is ridiculous.

+100
Seriously. How can you judge schools on a test that you yourself think is flawed and crappy? Ridiculous.
We all know that most students did not take PARCC seriously.

It was never about fairly evaluating schools. It was actually about bolstering real estate prices.

Is this the report where the scores are based on the discredited and now canceled PARCC test outcomes?

Anonymous wrote:It's a pretty poor process if "academic achievement and growth for students is measured solely on one data point—the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) results" because the state has already acknowledged PARCC is flawed and already plans to replace it.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-parcc-replacement-test-20180905-story.html

Here's this brand new tool that we are going to judge all your schools by, except it is based on a crappy test. The state is ridiculous.

+100
Seriously. How can you judge schools on a test that you yourself think is flawed and crappy? Ridiculous.
We all know that most students did not take PARCC seriously.

While I agree it seems insufficient to create a rating system based on a single data point... but the question is how poorly do MOCO schools end up being rated? Could it be a catalyst for parents and others to push MCPS to improve so ratings aside our kids are actually prepared as Smith likes to say...."College, Career and Community."

Or maybe property values need to be impacted before something really happens.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is such a total pain the ass. Getting ready to start trouble. The state honestly can not stand us and I don’t blame them.

I am amazed our idiotic board is still intact. The best person on there last year was the high school senior.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t post until December 4th, so how could you possibly have it unless you are a central office employee or state employee in which case you are breaking ethics and that NDA that you signed.

Me thinks they do protest too much. It hasn't even been released yet and Dr. Smith is saying it's only one measurement... He's trying to make the case that it's not the end all be all. If there was good news in the report card for MCPS he wouldn't have to do that.

I actually read it as virtue signaling, that MCPS wants to be seen as ahead of the curve by adding a measurement that can assess equity. Only they should be more focused on doing stuff to get rid of the rape culture within MCPS. If they want to be seen as functional, they need to ditch a ton of people starting with those coaches.

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is such a total pain the ass. Getting ready to start trouble. The state honestly can not stand us and I don’t blame them.

+100

What a ridiculous email from Jack Smith today.

It's a pretty poor process if "academic achievement and growth for students is measured solely on one data point—the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) results" because the state has already acknowledged PARCC is flawed and already plans to replace it.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-parcc-replacement-test-20180905-story.html

Here's this brand new tool that we are going to judge all your schools by, except it is based on a crappy test. The state is ridiculous.

MCPS is such a total pain the ass. Getting ready to start trouble. The state honestly can not stand us and I don’t blame them.

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t post until December 4th, so how could you possibly have it unless you are a central office employee or state employee in which case you are breaking ethics and that NDA that you signed.

Me thinks they do protest too much. It hasn't even been released yet and Dr. Smith is saying it's only one measurement... He's trying to make the case that it's not the end all be all. If there was good news in the report card for MCPS he wouldn't have to do that.

I heard a report about this on NPR a week or so ago and they mentioned that MCPS wanted to be evaluated differently from the rest of the state and wanted to have equity included in their criteria.

UPDATE: This message is being resent with a correction. Primary schools that only serve students in prekindergarten through Grade 2 will not receive a star rating.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

On Tuesday, December 4, the Maryland State Department of Education will release a new accountability report card for every school in the state of Maryland, designed to measure the success of schools and identify areas for improvement. The report card was developed in response to the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a federal law that seeks to ensure public schools provide a quality education for all children.

The Maryland Report Card is designed to measure school success in several ways, including state tests in English Language Arts and math; postsecondary readiness; progress of English learners in achieving English language proficiency; graduation rate; and students with access to and earning credit for a well-rounded curriculum. In future years, the Maryland Report Card will also include science and social studies achievement (grades 5 & 8 and grade 8, respectively), and the results of a student/educator climate survey. Based on these performance indicators, the state will give each school a percentile rank, a total earned points percent and a star rating, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars.*

[Watch this video to learn more about the Maryland Report Card.]

While the Maryland Report Card uses multiple indicators in several categories, academic achievement and growth for students is measured solely on one data point—the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) results. The PARCC score simulates an end-of-course view of students’ performance or progress. While this is one useful measure, we can’t wait until the end of the year, or even semester, to systematically measure how students are doing and respond accordingly.

While the Report Card does provide important information about our schools, its selected data points must be comparable to other districts and therefore, provide a limited view into the progress of our nearly 163,000 students. School improvement is inherently a local responsibility. We know our students best, how they are impacted, who is thriving, and who needs our support.

To address the limitations of the Maryland Report Card, MCPS has developed an Equity Accountability Model that provides a more detailed and focused report of school success. The Equity Accountability Model uses multiple and frequent measures of students’ progress to determine if a school is meeting the needs of ALL students with a special emphasis on reducing and eliminating disparities in student achievement. Both the report card for Maryland and the local equity accountability model will include measures of student well-being in the future and that is a positive step forward.

[Watch this video to learn more about the MCPS Equity Accountability Model.]

The MCPS strategy for student success must be multi-faceted and designed to meet the needs of all students. We remain committed to ensuring our graduates are ready to be successful in college, career and the community.

Sincerely,
Jack R. Smith, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools

please post it

It doesn’t post until December 4th, so how could you possibly have it unless you are a central office employee or state employee in which case you are breaking ethics and that NDA that you signed.

Assuming everyone has seen the emails, notifications, etc from Dr Smith re: the Maryland report card that measures schools success coming out on Tuesday, Dec 4? Its really long, and I couldn't find it on the MCPS website (or I would have posted the link), but if you didn't get it, let me know and I will paste it here (but I received it 6 times for 3 kids at 3 schools, so I would be surprised if you didn't!).

Given how much they are hyping that the report card only looks at one set of data points, I am guessing that the report card is bad news for MCPS. Guess we will find out Tuesday. Hopefully this will be the kick in the ass they need to get back on track!