Superintendent makes incorrect claim about MC placement system

Another in a series of deceptive misstatements by Weast

In the Kojo Nnamdi show of December 17, the following exchange took place:

JUDY

12:25:21

Thank you. I teach at Montgomery College. And a significant percentage of our students are, of course, from them Montgomery County Public School System. And a significant percentage of those students require developmental courses in reading, English and/or math and sometimes all three. These are students who have graduated from Montgomery County High School, and yet are very, very low on reading, writing and math. How does Mr. Weast explain that as part of his graduation rite?

WEAST

12:25:57

I'd be happy to. I would love to explain that question. I've been dying to get an air question like that, so thank you, Judy. I don't know what you teach but I really like it. First of all, Montgomery College has an entry exam for these kids, that if you don't score 550 on the English, 550 on the math, 550 on the writing, you automatically are moved in to remediation in those classes. That is well above the national average. That's the 1650 that I'm talking about. The national average on the SAT test is 100 and some points less than that. So you're trying to, one, use a much higher bar. Two, let's take a look at the graduation rate from Montgomery College five to seven years.

Montgomery College admissions representative Bridgett tells us, however, that Dr. Weast doesn't know what he is talking about.  According to Bridgett, the only students who are required to take remedial classes are those who score below 90 (out of 120) on the English Accuplacer, and those who score below 62 (out of 120) on the Math Accuplacer.  (Students who score below 62 on the math Accuplacer are required to take a remedial class that is similar to Algebra II, according to Bridgett.)

Students who score 550 or above on the SAT English section are exempt from taking the English Accuplacer, and students who score 550 or above on the SAT math section are exempt from taking the math Accuplacer.