For all we spend on schools in Montgomery County what are we getting?
We spend the most, but according to the Maryland State Assessment (MSA) test results we are currently 12th in Math and 7th in reading among the 24 school systems in Maryland.
This is what the current Superintendent and School Board have delivered.
Note that while we have moved up 3 places in Reading over the past 4 years, we have fallen three places in Math. Fallen to the middle of the pack - 12th of 24.
At the same time MCPS spends the most per pupil. 10% more than Howard County and 28% more than Frederick County. In the most extreme comparison, MCPS spends 37% more per student then Queen Anne's County which is arguably the highest performing school district in the state.
All data used is from the Maryland State Department of Education web site. Cost data is the most recent available, FY2008. MSA scores are from 2006 and 2010. MSA's are given to 3rd through 8th graders each spring.
The populations of these counties are extremely different. I doubt Worchester/Queen Anne's County deals with the Achievement Gap.
ReplyDeleteSo how much money exactly does one need to "deal with the achievement gap?" Obviously, an extra 4K per pupil of MY tax dollars isn't working!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps Weast should go back to the drawing board and REREAD the proposal for the charter school in Kensington....the school that is actually proposing to ENGAGE children in life-long learning. But of course, if a charter school succeeded in Montgomery county for 1/2 of the pupil cost, Weast would certainly start to lose his mountain of centralized control.
Do the research...
ReplyDeleteIt appears Queen Anne's County is dealing with the achievement gap as well as Montgomery County is. And doing so for a lot less $$$$.
The point is maybe there is something we could learn from our neighbors, rather then holding ourselves above the rest of Maryland.
Among African Americans in Math Queen Anne's County outperformed MCPS in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Grade
Among African Americans in Reading Queen Anne's County outperformed MCPS in 3rd and 4th grades
Among Hispanic Students in Math Queen Anne's County outperformed MCPS in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades
Among Hispanic Students in Reading Queen Anne's County outperformed MCPS in 3rd, 6th, & 8th grades.
In summary Queen Annes County outperformed MCPS on 16 of the 24 grade level Reading & Math test for African American and Hispanic students.
Bob Astrove
Again one needs to look behind the numbers. Queen Anne's County Public Schools has only 7793 students according to the 2010 MD. Report Card (mdreportcard.org). MCPS has 141,722 students.
ReplyDeleteOf the approx 8000 QAPS students, 6763 or 86.7% are white, 622 or 8% are African American, 236 or 3% are Hispanic, and 130 or 1.7% are Asian.
The numbers for MCPS are 54,035 or 38.1% white, 32,864 or 23.2% African American, 32,215 or 22.7% Hispanic, and 22,176 or 15.6% Asian.
It is disingenuous to compare MCPS results to QAPS given the markedly different demographics of those two school systems. One also has to wonder about sample size as the number of QAPS students who are minorities are quite low. Assuming an even distribution of ethnicities throught grade levels, there are only approximately 18 Hispanic and 48 African American students in each grade in QAPS. These low numbers, particularly for Hispanic students, may make their results statistically unreliable (I'm not statistician so I can't do confidence interval testing, etc.).
Student mobility is also lower in QAPS than in MCPS. In QAPS, mobility is 9.8% in elementary schools and 9.1% in middle schools. The comparable MCPS rates are 14.9% in elementary and 11.3% in middle.
Comparing MCPS results to QAPS results, from a demographic perspective, would be akin to comparing results from the Whitman or Churchill clusters to results from more racially diverse parts of the county. Those 2 clusters have demographics most similar to those found in QAPS (although both have more Asian students and fewer white students than does QAPS).
The point I'm making is that it's not so easy to compare results on state assessments across the various county school systems. It IS easy to make blanket statements deriding overall rankings. Such statements are simplistic.
@ "Anonymous" MCPS employee:
ReplyDeleteWhy can't you stand behind your statement? You work for MCPS. If you believe what you are saying why is it anonymous?
So what you are saying it that you have a problem with all of the blanket statements that Superintendent Weast makes when he travels selling the MCPS "brand"? Yes, there does seem to be a serious flaw in his presentation that states that early childhood education is responsible for MCPS students getting college degrees.
The data Superintendent is using for college degrees is from students that are now about 25 years old! Those students didn't have any "pre-K" MCPS program. And those false conclusions are being used to sell the MCPS curriculum to Pearson Education, Inc. How is MCPS going to make any money selling a curriculum that is unproven?
What's your solution?
What has "Anonymous" succeeded in doing in his/her comment above, other than confirm that adage about American public schooling: geography is destiny?
ReplyDeleteMy Solution? Perhaps maybe you can come and teach...... and realize that it's not as "EASY" as 4K of your taxes. Anyone can sit here and blog about it. It takes a real person to be able to actually teach.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I'm not a huge fan of Weast and I'll be happy to see him go. However, there isn't a flaw in Weast's vision about early childhood programs. Only recently, there was a study conducted (and presented in the NY Times) that said if you had less skilled teachers/ less education during the years of 4 to 6, then you were predetermined to not view education as a priority.
Here is a link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1281729822-JtfmmG/tc6Y4HYBZiejLoA
There's a huge flaw in Weast's vision. It isn't working. Middle schools are not improving and the graduation rate has been dropping in MCPS.
ReplyDelete