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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

$140 Fee to Graduate in MoCo - AYP Missed

According to a MCPS Press Release on Annual Yearly Progress (AYP):
...Northwood missed the graduation rate target for all students...
Do you think the $140 fee that is charged to Northwood students to participate in graduation had any impact on that statistic?

Please note, the Maryland Constitution still provides for a free public education for Maryland children. Isn't graduation the culmination of a free public education?

We know from the Washington Post that a 50% increase in the MCPS after school activity fee resulted in a 20% drop in participation. The actual fee increase was from $20 to $30, and netted an estimated loss of over 6,000 MCPS students participating in after school activities.

4 comments:

  1. It could also have been due to the fact x number of kids are left handed or y number of kids drive to school. Making unsupported assumptions belittles your cause

    ReplyDelete
  2. @anonymous:
    Please read the post, it was a question:

    "Do you think the $140 fee that is charged to Northwood students to participate in graduation had any impact on that statistic?"

    So your answer would apparently be that a $140 illegal graduation fee has no impact on graduation numbers. Thanks for weighing in!

    ReplyDelete
  3. And the obvious answer to your question is No.

    Participation in graduation has no impact on whether or not a student meets the graduation requirements to receive a diploma in the state of Maryland. So, regardless of fees, the answer is no.

    A more appropriate question might be - Do you think the $3.2 million spent on having students choose high schools in a consortium had an impact on that stat? Without appropriate vertical articulation and registration processes, which are difficult to maintain with students coming from 9 different middle schools into the 5 high schools in the DCC, Northwood had a number of students listed in their class of 2009 as freshmen in 2005 who never actually entered their building. They were the impacters on that statistic. http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Apps/Council/PressRelease/PR_details.asp?PrID=5070

    ReplyDelete
  4. Here is a link to the full report cited by the anonymous MCPS source above:

    http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/olo/reports/pdf/2009-4.pdf

    ReplyDelete

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