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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Strand 1: The MCPS Schools in Strand 1 of MD's New Accountability Index

Longview School 1.92
Rosemary Hills Elementary 1.28
Stephen Knolls School 1.21
Seven Locks Elementary 1.2
Cold Spring Elementary 1.19
Stone Mill Elementary 1.19
Carderock Springs Elementary 1.18
Poolesville High 1.17
Rock Creek Valley Elementary 1.17
Candlewood Elementary 1.14
Mill Creek Towne Elementary 1.14
Thomas S. Wootton High 1.13
Herbert Hoover Middle 1.12
College Gardens Elementary 1.12
Bannockburn Elementary 1.12
Wyngate Elementary 1.12
Beverly Farms Elementary 1.11
Chevy Chase Elementary 1.11
Richard Montgomery High 1.1
Jackson Road Elementary 1.09
Wood Acres Elementary 1.09
Little Bennett Elementary 1.08
William B. Gibbs, Jr. 1.08
Sherwood High 1.08
Westover Elementary 1.08
Belmont Elementary 1.08
Ronald A. McNair Elementary 1.07
Fallsmead Elementary 1.07
Darnestown Elementary 1.07
Somerset Elementary 1.07
Walter Johnson High 1.07
Montgomery Knolls Elementary 1.07
Lois P. Rockwell Elementary 1.06
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High 1.06
John F. Kennedy High 1.06
Lake Seneca Elementary 1.05
Beall Elementary 1.05
Rockville High 1.05
Jones Lane Elementary 1.05
Potomac Elementary 1.05
Cabin John Middle School 1.05
Summit Hall Elementary 1.04
Highland View Elementary 1.04
Col. Zadok Magruder High 1.03
Wheaton High 1.03
Gaithersburg High 1.02
Cloverly Elementary 1
East Silver Spring Elementary 1

If schools fall into Strand 1, the schools have a School Progress Index score of 1.0 or better and will have met their targets for Achievement, Gap, and Growth (elementary/middle schools) or Achievement, Gap, and College- and Career-Readiness indicators (high schools) per grade span. These schools are usually meeting and exceeding the academic standards for all students. Schools that score in this Strand may have met the minimum standards set by the State for closing the achievement gaps but will, through development of the School Improvement Plan (SIP), want to set even higher standards. Additionally, schools will examine the data they have that indicate any need whether academic, physical, emotional, or cultural and develop intervention plans.

Since data for the School Progress Index will be published annually, focused and intense interventions for students not showing growth will need to be provided to maintain the status of a Strand 1 school. Although the Maryland School Assessments (MSAs) are meant to assess the most important academic content in all Maryland classrooms, teachers and leaders understand that they are responsible for the whole child. That means that at times tools to keep students organized and persevering in their work will need to be partnered with the ongoing support for the content of English/Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science.
Support to these schools beyond the SIP may take different forms. The school should be able to identify the professional development and training that can lead to additional improvement in achievement. The LEA may provide this resource or schools may leverage other sources of funding to seek training beyond the current staff within the LEA.
Monitoring for these schools is left to the LEA and its theory of action. Each year the LEA will review the SIPs of a random sample of one to three percent of the schools in Strand 1. The LEA Superintendent will report on the examination of these plans through the Master Plan process (reviewed by MSDE) assuring that any omissions or inadequacies will be addressed in these and all other SIPs. This will allow MSDE to have insight into the School Improvement Plan process from the school’s perspective and the school will receive feedback that will assist with the continued improvement of the school’s ability to diagnose and prescribe interventions.

http://mdreportcard.org/SpiStrands.aspx?PV=14:0:15:XXXX:2

4 comments:

  1. What a load of convoluted non-sense. Ask the average parent what this means to them and you're going to get a blank stare.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, bad rankings are convoluted non-sense. Good rankings are press releases and parades.

      Delete
  2. I really don't want to be in the position of defending anything about MCPS and the use of statistics - but I have to say I'm glad these particular ones aren't getting more attention. When our principle explained the schools plan for meeting this goal my reaction was I'm glad I'm not one of the targeted kids. As I recall it, they were going to reduce the number of kids not meeting the benchmark by a third - but the starting number was something close to single digits. Once you take into account that there will be some kids that are very new to the school and possibly to the US there these improvement measures are really not meaningful for high performing schools. I'd be more interested in something that measured how well the school did in helping the specific children that didn't meet the benchmark the prior year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My understanding with the previous MSA reporting (I don't get this "strand" thing at all) was that not all students were included in the data for a particular school. There were cutoffs for when students were coming into the school from another MCPS school, another MD school, or from elsewhere. Thus Anon 7:03's concern is partly addressed.

    However if one compares schools with high student mobility rates with schools with more stable populations, one has to wonder how much the former group can really "own" their students' scores. They are essentially being held not only for their own staff members' effectiveness, but also for that of other schools' effectiveness.

    ReplyDelete

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