Anonymous wrote:Teens aren't so cooperative on this sort of thing, but if anyone wants to start ensuring their kid "gets it" for the end-of-year exercise, here are the standards:
https://www.marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DAAIT/Assessment/MISA/LSMISAStandards.pdf

So we all have to supplement at home now for this ridiculous decision the state and the district made? Why not just give back our tax money so we can all homeschool.

Teens aren't so cooperative on this sort of thing, but if anyone wants to start ensuring their kid "gets it" for the end-of-year exercise, here are the standards:
https://www.marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DAAIT/Assessment/MISA/LSMISAStandards.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's going to be very interesting to see how they do this, especially given the state-wide high school Biology MCAP scores in 2022 had only 3.5% scoring a level 4 (highest), 31.6% with a level 3 (proficient), 40.5% at level 2, and 24.4% at level 1.

That's going to really affect semester grades, and also seems like an indication that the test may not be well aligned to how the classes are being taught.

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/

This should be the real concern. Are there things in the state standard that are missing or poorly covered by the MCPS curriculum (whether standard, honors or AP)? If not, and if the tests are not poorly written, then the shock of the high non-proficiency rate may simply be due to ongoing grade inflation.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of semester grading in the first place. It's a double-edged sword.

I have a HS science kid who has been in the guinea pig MISA group (take it, but it doesn't count), and she stated that different questions on the Bio test were (a) incomprehensible, (b) not based on the factual reading given and (c) flatly wrong. We have a younger sibling and I am not looking forward to this transition. It is not a good test, and the score should certainly not affect GPA. The state is way off on this one.

That has been the feedback my kids have given about all the MCAPs. It’s not even a matter of whether the material was covered (which in many cases, it wasn’t).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is last minute. The idea that it will count towards 20% of the grade for two classes when there seems to be no plan for addressing how the subjects are taught is irresponsible. It is universally known to be a poorly written test.

You make no sense. This will be the third year of L-MISA (following 4 years of MISA) and the Biology curriculum has been NGSS for 9 years, with an update 4 years ago. The only difference is that this is the first year since the 2017 Biology HSA that students can’t blow off the state test.

I think that's what people are saying -- that the NEW, last minute thing is the idea of the test counting for 20% of the grade which is a big change.
I can't tell if you are the same nitpicky person on other threads but this kind of nitpicking is really a waste of everyone's time and annoying. You also keep repeating yourself on these threads.

Different poster here -- it's not exactly a new idea, since the state adopted the idea of using MCAP as End of Course Exams in 2021. It was supposed to start last year, but they delayed implementation for a year: https://marylandpublicschools.org/about/Pages/DAAIT/Assessment/EOCs/index.aspx. But I also see your point about it being a big change to repurpose existing tests (which have historically had low pass rates) as essentially final exams.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's going to be very interesting to see how they do this, especially given the state-wide high school Biology MCAP scores in 2022 had only 3.5% scoring a level 4 (highest), 31.6% with a level 3 (proficient), 40.5% at level 2, and 24.4% at level 1.

That's going to really affect semester grades, and also seems like an indication that the test may not be well aligned to how the classes are being taught.

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/

This should be the real concern. Are there things in the state standard that are missing or poorly covered by the MCPS curriculum (whether standard, honors or AP)? If not, and if the tests are not poorly written, then the shock of the high non-proficiency rate may simply be due to ongoing grade inflation.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of semester grading in the first place. It's a double-edged sword.

I have a HS science kid who has been in the guinea pig MISA group (take it, but it doesn't count), and she stated that different questions on the Bio test were (a) incomprehensible, (b) not based on the factual reading given and (c) flatly wrong. We have a younger sibling and I am not looking forward to this transition. It is not a good test, and the score should certainly not affect GPA. The state is way off on this one.

Anonymous wrote:It's going to be very interesting to see how they do this, especially given the state-wide high school Biology MCAP scores in 2022 had only 3.5% scoring a level 4 (highest), 31.6% with a level 3 (proficient), 40.5% at level 2, and 24.4% at level 1.

That's going to really affect semester grades, and also seems like an indication that the test may not be well aligned to how the classes are being taught.

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/

That's really revealing. The other issue is that some programs don't teach the standard bio curriculum for the state. How is this test dealt with in those programs? Do they have to cut something to make room to cram in some information just for this test?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is last minute. The idea that it will count towards 20% of the grade for two classes when there seems to be no plan for addressing how the subjects are taught is irresponsible. It is universally known to be a poorly written test.

You make no sense. This will be the third year of L-MISA (following 4 years of MISA) and the Biology curriculum has been NGSS for 9 years, with an update 4 years ago. The only difference is that this is the first year since the 2017 Biology HSA that students can’t blow off the state test.

I think that's what people are saying -- that the NEW, last minute thing is the idea of the test counting for 20% of the grade which is a big change.
I can't tell if you are the same nitpicky person on other threads but this kind of nitpicking is really a waste of everyone's time and annoying. You also keep repeating yourself on these threads.

Anonymous wrote:It's going to be very interesting to see how they do this, especially given the state-wide high school Biology MCAP scores in 2022 had only 3.5% scoring a level 4 (highest), 31.6% with a level 3 (proficient), 40.5% at level 2, and 24.4% at level 1.

That's going to really affect semester grades, and also seems like an indication that the test may not be well aligned to how the classes are being taught.

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/

This should be the real concern. Are there things in the state standard that are missing or poorly covered by the MCPS curriculum (whether standard, honors or AP)? If not, and if the tests are not poorly written, then the shock of the high non-proficiency rate may simply be due to ongoing grade inflation.

I'm not sure I'm a fan of semester grading in the first place. It's a double-edged sword.

I’m really so upset about this., does anyone know how it will translate to grades? Like will a proficient be a B?
I really don’t think it should count for more than 10%. The poor teachers are now gojng to have to spend a month just purely teaching the test given that the test has not been aligned to the curriculum. I can’t even recall if my older kid took it or if they skipped it due to the pandemic. Those grades aren’t on parentvue are they?

It's going to be very interesting to see how they do this, especially given the state-wide high school Biology MCAP scores in 2022 had only 3.5% scoring a level 4 (highest), 31.6% with a level 3 (proficient), 40.5% at level 2, and 24.4% at level 1.

That's going to really affect semester grades, and also seems like an indication that the test may not be well aligned to how the classes are being taught.

https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/

Anonymous wrote:It is last minute. The idea that it will count towards 20% of the grade for two classes when there seems to be no plan for addressing how the subjects are taught is irresponsible. It is universally known to be a poorly written test.

How the course is taught isn’t changing just that the state exam is now an end of course requirement that counts as part of the grade.

This wasn’t a surprise. It was brought up to the BOE several times last year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does this apply to the kids in AP govt? I’m concerned about this because historically the tests were poorly written — I’m afraid they are going to do this for a year or two and it will talk our current 9th graders GPA, then they’ll make the test easier.

They probably have to do both.

MCAP has not historically been given in AP Gov. I cannot figure out what the State is planning with this; test scores generally do not come out until Spring of the following year.

So you don’t know your grade for bio and government until the following spring?

Anonymous wrote:It is last minute. The idea that it will count towards 20% of the grade for two classes when there seems to be no plan for addressing how the subjects are taught is irresponsible. It is universally known to be a poorly written test.

You make no sense. This will be the third year of L-MISA (following 4 years of MISA) and the Biology curriculum has been NGSS for 9 years, with an update 4 years ago. The only difference is that this is the first year since the 2017 Biology HSA that students can’t blow off the state test.

It is last minute. The idea that it will count towards 20% of the grade for two classes when there seems to be no plan for addressing how the subjects are taught is irresponsible. It is universally known to be a poorly written test.

Anonymous wrote:This makes no sense. Is this fake? How could they announce something like this at the last minute for the current class?

It’s not last minute- this has been the state’s plan for several years and they even delayed implementation by a year.

The first year that MISA (all 3 years of HS science) was supposed to require passing was 11th graders in 2021 (class of 2022). They were going to use the spring 2020 data to do cut scores. They got some data from January 2020, but then the pandemic happened so no full data set. Meanwhile, the state looked at the data they got and said nevermind, let’s go back to testing just the biology (life sciences) which is now called L-MISA. Kids have been taking it, but not required to meet a cut score.

The new idea for both Government and Biology is that the state test results will be incorporated into the course grade (20%), and students still have to pass the course. Class of 2027 is the first class with this new process. By not having the test score separate, the state eliminates the whole “bridge project” thing for kids who can’t pass a test.

The state still hasn’t told MCPS how the test score will be incorporated into the semester grades. (Other counties just give a full year grade.) It’s also unclear how quickly test results will turn around and how/when that gets folded into the final grade. Should be fun next summer when that finally hits …