PARCC is a terrible test that the state is phasing out. I wouldn't get my panties in a twist because my kids cohort scored a few percentage points lower at one school or another.

Piney Branch has never been considered a good school. Its only recently that a few DCUM posters have decided to pump their neighborhood. The school is overcrowded, low performing and does a poor job with all students but the parents are overly invested in pretending its just dandy. A new principal isn't going to change things.

Some of the other schools with far more FARMS kids are doing so much better because the teachers can really focus on those kids. At PBES there are so many zealous, whiny white parents wanting it to become the Bethesda of the east that resources gets scattered trying to placate them with faux differentiation when in the end their kids do no better anyway.

No idea where they're getting those numbers but the Math percentages for these schools off of GS are:

Piney Branch:
White - 77%
Black - 26%
Hispanic - 20%

Rolling Terrace:
White - 90%
Black - 33%
Hispanic - 25%

ESS
White - 72%
Black - 36%
Hispanic - 27%

True the only thing that really stands out here is the Rolling Terrace score for the White cohort.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Did you read these stats? For parents of black children, this is not splitting hairs.
5th grade math met or exceeded percentages at Piney Branch:
Black - 15%

Hispanic - 25%


For Rolling Terrace, those numbers were:

Black - 11%

Hispanic - 16%


For East Silver Spring (the other ES that has some Takoma Park kids), the numbers were:

Black - 39%

Hispanic - 27%

Can you provide a link to a page that shows these numbers? This is different than what's available on GS.

These numbers are from the MD school report card for 2018 Parcc scores.

Provide a link that shows these scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Did you read these stats? For parents of black children, this is not splitting hairs.
5th grade math met or exceeded percentages at Piney Branch:
Black - 15%

Hispanic - 25%


For Rolling Terrace, those numbers were:

Black - 11%

Hispanic - 16%


For East Silver Spring (the other ES that has some Takoma Park kids), the numbers were:

Black - 39%

Hispanic - 27%

Can you provide a link to a page that shows these numbers? This is different than what's available on GS.

No idea where they're getting those numbers but the Math percentages for these schools off of GS are:

Piney Branch:
White - 77%
Black - 26%
Hispanic - 20%

Rolling Terrace:
White - 90%
Black - 33%
Hispanic - 25%

ESS
White - 72%
Black - 36%
Hispanic - 27%

Looks like ESS is closing the achievement gap!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Did you read these stats? For parents of black children, this is not splitting hairs.
5th grade math met or exceeded percentages at Piney Branch:
Black - 15%

Hispanic - 25%


For Rolling Terrace, those numbers were:

Black - 11%

Hispanic - 16%


For East Silver Spring (the other ES that has some Takoma Park kids), the numbers were:

Black - 39%

Hispanic - 27%

Can you provide a link to a page that shows these numbers? This is different than what's available on GS.

These numbers are from the MD school report card for 2018 Parcc scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Did you read these stats? For parents of black children, this is not splitting hairs.
5th grade math met or exceeded percentages at Piney Branch:
Black - 15%

Hispanic - 25%


For Rolling Terrace, those numbers were:

Black - 11%

Hispanic - 16%


For East Silver Spring (the other ES that has some Takoma Park kids), the numbers were:

Black - 39%

Hispanic - 27%

Can you provide a link to a page that shows these numbers? This is different than what's available on GS.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if a closer look at the SES and demographics among black families between the two might tell the story. Does one neighborhood have more ESOL kids or more newly arrived immigrant families that might disadvantage school performance. Or if FARMS rates are similar are the kids at PBES comparatively poorer and thus more likely to have other environmental disadvantages?

The numbers are misleading. You'd need to look at the percentage of black and Hispanic kids that are ESOL or FARMs for this to be meaningful. Piney Branch is more diverse in terms of SES and that tends to muddy the waters. Also the MD report card data is especially difficult to extract so I'd stick with GS for now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Great Schools flattens scores. Better to look at the Maryland Report Card. Also, it isn't splitting hairs when it is your own child's demographic that is being poorly served at a certain school.

The schools use the same teachers and curriculum. The difference here is likely closer to home.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if a closer look at the SES and demographics among black families between the two might tell the story. Does one neighborhood have more ESOL kids or more newly arrived immigrant families that might disadvantage school performance. Or if FARMS rates are similar are the kids at PBES comparatively poorer and thus more likely to have other environmental disadvantages?

None of the above. Piney Branch has a lower FARMS rate and a lower ESOL rate than the other schools in the area, and the disadvantaged kids they have are comparatively better off than in surrounding schools. Rolling Terrace is Title I, which demonstrates just how high needs their student population is. It also gives them extra resources, but no, the issue is not that poor kids at PBES are poorer. This is about the school.

I wonder if a closer look at the SES and demographics among black families between the two might tell the story. Does one neighborhood have more ESOL kids or more newly arrived immigrant families that might disadvantage school performance. Or if FARMS rates are similar are the kids at PBES comparatively poorer and thus more likely to have other environmental disadvantages?

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Did you read these stats? For parents of black children, this is not splitting hairs.
5th grade math met or exceeded percentages at Piney Branch:
Black - 15%

Hispanic - 25%


For Rolling Terrace, those numbers were:

Black - 11%

Hispanic - 16%


For East Silver Spring (the other ES that has some Takoma Park kids), the numbers were:

Black - 39%

Hispanic - 27%

Anonymous wrote:Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Great Schools flattens scores. Better to look at the Maryland Report Card. Also, it isn't splitting hairs when it is your own child's demographic that is being poorly served at a certain school.

Looking at the data on GS, the schools in question seem to be about the same. You people are splitting hairs.

Anonymous wrote:This is not a new situation. There have been threads in the past showing that minority kids are not doing as well at PBES as they do at ESS. It would be interesting to try to tease out what happens when the kids are combined at TPMS, but those scores include the TPMS magnet student scores, and you can't tell from parcc data which kids went to which elementary schools, which minority students are magnet and from outside the cluster, etc.

The magnet program is very small. In another thread, a poster did the math to show the impact it has on Blair's scores. TLDR: it ended up not being that significant.