Gazette: Failure rates for Montgomery students on math finals go back nearly a decade

Montgomery County school board members are concerned about the high percentage of high school students who are failing their math final exams, especially after realizing that this has issue has gone unaddressed for years.
A 2004 report by Montgomery County Public Schools’ Office of Shared Accountability shows that close to half of high school students taking grade-level courses such as algebra, geometry and biology failed their first semester exam that school year.
The data is similar to countywide results from the first final exam this school year that was released publicly a few weeks ago after parents and principals raised concerns.
Of the high school students enrolled in Algebra I this school year, 61 percent failed; of those in geometry, 62 percent failed; of those in Algebra 2, 57 percent failed; of those in precalculus, 48 percent failed, according to the data.
Of high school students enrolled in Algebra 1 in 2004, 57.71 percent failed; of those in geometry, 43 percent failed. The report does not include information from the other courses mentioned below, but it does include biology, showing a high failure rate of 60 percent in that course.
School board Vice President Philip Kauffman (At-large) of Olney pointed out the data when discussing the issue at the school board meeting on Tuesday...

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