Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

"The MCAP and PARCC are the same test just with different names. The test material is still based off of the PARCC test, meaning the content will likely be very similar to the PARCC testing on English and math, according to the same MCPS letter."

https://rockvillerampage.com/14053/editorials/parcc-replacement-new-name-same-test

And one good thing about the MCAP is that it's a shorter test.

MCAP is PARCC just shorter. There’s nothing wrong with the test content, there never was. The pushback is because it’s a more rigorous test and folks across all states didn’t (don’t) like what the scores showed. It was also too expensive and too long. And folks didn’t like common core though most couldn’t articulate why.

The only problem is there are too many standardized test given too often, that actually waste time that could be used for teaching and learning. It makes zero sense that MCAP is given before the middle of 4th qtr.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

"The MCAP and PARCC are the same test just with different names. The test material is still based off of the PARCC test, meaning the content will likely be very similar to the PARCC testing on English and math, according to the same MCPS letter."

https://rockvillerampage.com/14053/editorials/parcc-replacement-new-name-same-test

And one good thing about the MCAP is that it's a shorter test.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

"The MCAP and PARCC are the same test just with different names. The test material is still based off of the PARCC test, meaning the content will likely be very similar to the PARCC testing on English and math, according to the same MCPS letter."

https://rockvillerampage.com/14053/editorials/parcc-replacement-new-name-same-test

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

My kids found imcps math incredibly slow and boring. They typically scored 20 to 30 points over the 99th percentile on the MAP-M which is a national test but on the MCAP they had an average score. I forgot to mention they also qualified for AIME. The problem is the MCAP is just not a good measuring stick. The state needs to find something better to accurately assess these kids.

If your kid isn't getting a 3 or 4 on the MCAP or a 4 or 5 on the PARCC before it, then I'm sorry he or she is not proficient. These test grade-level standards.

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between FARMS and economically disadvantaged?

I'm really perplexed as to what is going on in math at Silver Creek. Proficiency rates are under 25%!

I have a student at Silver Creek. I’d dig a little deeper about the math data. In the last several years, NCC has also had surprisingly low math proficiency scores. CCES’s have always been stronger, but my personal opinion is those are heavily skewed by the high scores of the CES kids, who do not necessarily matriculate to Silver Creek. So I think the kids arrive without the depth of understanding they need from grades 3-5. I will also say the quiet part out loud. Silver Creek families are not generally enrolling their kids in AOPS and RSM and all the prep programs that folks at Pyle and Frost, etc. are. The parents are just not as competitive about that stuff (hence the choice to buy in a great pyramid rather than “the BEST” pyramid). The math teachers at SCMS are very good. The school has a lot of support in place if you need help, but you have to actually GO to the tutoring, etc. They won’t force anyone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be nice if there was a way to just get a list of all MCPS schools rather than having to look up one at a time.

Use this page: https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/SchoolsList/Index?l=15

OK, fine. Here they are

School Total Earned Points
Whitman 83.6
Churchill 82.8
Wootton 80.4
BCC 76.2
Walter Johnson 76
Richard Montgomery 70.4
Poolesville 69.7
Sherwood 68.8
Northwest 68
Clarksburg 66.9
Damascus 66.3
Quince Orchard 65.7
Rockville 65.3
Einstein 63.9
Blair 63.2
Magruder 62.1
Wheaton 61.6
Springbrook 61.6
Blake 61.1
Paint Branch 59.2
Seneca Valley 58.3
Northwood 55.8
Gaithersburg 53
Watkins Mill 52.2
Kennedy 49.2

Pretty close to the reverse of a FARMS rate-sorted list. So neither surprising nor meaningful.

+1 Almost to the exact order of lowest to highest FARMS. I mean, you could've just listed the FARMs rate and not bother looking at MSDE.

I think the FARMS rate is highly correlated with English Language Learners. There are several different metrics that take a hit because of ELLs. When this new rating system came out I was pretty disgusted, because it’s effectively useless the way it is set-up. Pull all data for ELLs into their own category for 4 years after arriving in US. Leave the main categories with only data from kids who speak English, so those comparisons are more meaningful.

But then you would know exactly how many undocumented students are in your schools being funded by MoCo taxpayers instead of their home countries. Dems cannot let you know that.

A) Not all ELLs are undocumented;

B) Every single At a Glance document for every single school in MCPS shows you the number of kids receiving ESOL services;

C) The report card does the same thing.

And no one is so simple to think that they are. But it is undeniable that MCPS has had a large and growing undocumented population for years, and that the population places a tremendous strain on resources. Don't try to negate people's concerns with simplistic arguments.

Agreed. It’s disingenuous and dishonest to pretend that the explosion of undocumented immigrants to Montgomery County (from all over the world, not just Central and South America) have not had an effect on the school system.

Clearly our local politics and policies have had an effect on our schools. V

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is so broken about mcap?

Nothing. MCPS is broken, and the majority of kids are not proficient in Math and Language Arts (even based on MCPS’ own data).

It is easier to say the test is broken than to admit that MCPS is broken and dysfunctional. And that MCPS is clearly failing our kids. The kids who do well, are doing well despite MCPS, not because of it.

That's not true.
You have no idea of what you're talking about

The statistics say otherwise. Both the state report card and the county’s own data.

Actually, the PP was correct. The statistics say nothing of the kind. All places do badly with this test because it is broken.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

+100

PARC was a terrible test. It’s been abandoned rapidly throughout the country. MCAP is just a variation on PARC.

That's true but MCPS found a way to replace it with an even worse test.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is so broken about mcap?

Nothing. MCPS is broken, and the majority of kids are not proficient in Math and Language Arts (even based on MCPS’ own data).

It is easier to say the test is broken than to admit that MCPS is broken and dysfunctional. And that MCPS is clearly failing our kids. The kids who do well, are doing well despite MCPS, not because of it.

That's not true.
You have no idea of what you're talking about

The statistics say otherwise. Both the state report card and the county’s own data.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between FARMS and economically disadvantaged?

I'm really perplexed as to what is going on in math at Silver Creek. Proficiency rates are under 25%!

FARMS rate is the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-price meals.

FARMS - Free and Reduced lunch (Meals)

Econdis - students who fall under one category -- homeless, CFSA, at-risk, TANF, and SNAP.

actually, skip the at-risk, that is not a category... At-Risk is a category that includes econdis kids with the addition of overage high schoolers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the difference between FARMS and economically disadvantaged?

I'm really perplexed as to what is going on in math at Silver Creek. Proficiency rates are under 25%!

FARMS rate is the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-price meals.

FARMS - Free and Reduced lunch (Meals)

Econdis - students who fall under one category -- homeless, CFSA, at-risk, TANF, and SNAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

+100

PARC was a terrible test. It’s been abandoned rapidly throughout the country. MCAP is just a variation on PARC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

IMO current MS 7th & 8th Graders got the shaft with pandemic policies. End of ES completely disrupted and then curriculum cut by substantial amounts for virtual year. Last year reintegration at MS wasn't good. They're only really getting back on track this year, so they have lost a lot.

Things would look different if they had simply stuck with a proven test like the PARC. Sure, the pandemic didn't help, but MCAP is just a bad test.

+100

Anonymous wrote:Wow the proficient in math percentage across the board in MCPS middle school is ABYSMAL.

Can we slow down math and teach necessary every day math and stop pushing algebra to kids who can’t even do long division or know fractions

MS is always the weakest link in MCPS. MCPS does a terrible job with MS. They don't prepare the kids enough for rigors of HS.

Anonymous wrote:RM would be low 60’s without IB

W schools would be the same without the tutor and prep.

-Asian American