Monifa B. McKnight's Doctor of Education Dissertation: EXAMINING THE SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS WITH HIGH SUCCESS RATES OF MINORITY STUDENTS IN ALGEBRA I

ABSTRACT

Title of Document: EXAMINING THE SELF-EFFICACY BELIEFS AND LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPALS WITH HIGH SUCCESS RATES OF MINORITY STUDENTS IN ALGEBRA I 

 Monifa B. McKnight, Doctor of Education 2014

This qualitative case study examined the self-efficacy beliefs of three middle school principals who had high enrollment and successful completion rates of minority students in Algebra I. With current tracking systems impacting minority student enrollment in rigorous courses, particularly in the area of mathematics, there is a need to explore and analyze the beliefs and practices of successful principals to ensure academic success for minority students in the subject of mathematics, particularly in middle school. To conduct this study, I analyzed transcripts from semi-structured interviews. The findings from this study reinforced the notion that self-efficacy beliefs were largely influenced by mastery experiences and vicarious experiences. The findings from this case study contributed additional knowledge about principal self-efficacy and the need for leadership development programs to help leaders define their own self-efficacy practices as it relates to closing the achievement gap. Examining the self-efficacy beliefs of successful middle school principals who have high minority student success in Algebra supports a compelling way to learn about how school leaders are addressing ways to close the achievement gap between African American and Latino students in comparison to their Asian and White peers. This study has practice implications for school systems interested in building the capacity for principal leadership development programs focused on leaders building a durable sense of self-efficacy to lead middle schools for change. Closing the achievement gap in helping all students to graduate college-ready requires a renewed focus on leadership during the middle school years.

Advisory Committee: 

Dr. Carol Sheffey Parham, Chair Dr. Helene Cohen Dr. Robert Croninger Dr. Dennis M. Kivlighan Dr. Nelson McLeod 

https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/15718/McKnight_umd_0117E_15399.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

75 percent of Asian students and 69 percent of white students made the Algebra 1 benchmark, while just 30 percent of black students and 26 percent of Hispanic students did.

Montgomery County students lost ground in algebra and showed no improvement or lagged slightly on five other key measures of math and reading performance, with racial and ethnic achievement gaps remaining wide, according to data for the most recent school year...

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-falls-short-on-algebra-and-stalls-or-lags-on-some-reading-math/2015/07/12/17ba4cf4-268a-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html

1/2 of MCPS High Schools had Failure Rates of more than 70% even with 15 points added

Montgomery schools differ in recent Algebra 1 final exam failures

A little more than half of Montgomery County’s 25 high schools had failure rates of more than 70 percent for the final exam in Algebra 1 in June, even after the district added 15 percentage points to exam grades, according to newly released district data.

The figures also show that eight middle schools, including six in the Silver Spring area, had Algebra 1 exam failure rates from 20 percent to 43 percent after the points were added. By contrast, 18 other middle schools recorded failure rates of 5 percent or less.

The new numbers provide a more detailed picture of June’s poor exam results, which led to a mass grade recalculation and the delay of student report cards districtwide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-schools-differ-in-recent-algebra-1-final-exam-failures/2014/09/21/a79c3774-3d97-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

Balt. Sun: Goodbye, HSA [Editorial]

The Maryland state board of education's decision this week to replace the English and Algebra I High School Assessments with new tests tied to the Common Core curriculum predictably has sparked complaints that educators are moving too quickly to adopt the more rigorous standard. But we've known all along the transition would be difficult for some students, especially those in high school who will need to pass the new tests in order to graduate. That's why state officials are already planning to make adjustments in how the tests are scored and to continue offering students alternative ways of meeting the high school graduation requirement. Given those safeguards, there's no reason to delay implementing the higher standards. 

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-assessments-20140724,0,1724797.story#ixzz38ml0uTTG

Gazette Chris Curtis Cartoon for July 9, 2014: MCPS Algebra Exams

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140709/OPINION/140709505/1014/chris-curtis-cartoon-for-july-9-2014&template=gazette

Guest Post: "I found it very interesting, but not at all surprising, that Montgomery County Algebra I students performed so poorly on the final exam."

I found it very interesting, but not at all surprising, that Montgomery County Algebra I students performed so poorly on the final exam. The County is attributing it to fewer instructional days. I beg to differ. The rollout of the new Common Core curriculum for Algebra I has been fraught with problems. My 7th grader, a very strong math student, was frustrated and demoralized by the class, as were both her parents (who are engineers). Having attended meetings offered by the County where parents were clearly frustrated by the new curriculum, writing numerous emails to School officials, and meeting with her teacher and principal, I concluded the County was deaf to all the parental concerns. Here are the major issues I believe contributed to the poor student performance:

- The County did not supply the teachers with the curriculum materials far enough in advance or provide proper teacher training. It was "Just In Time" math instruction. And the new material is substantially more difficult than the old, incorporating more elements of Algebra 2. 

- The math materials provided to students in lieu of a textbook was a hodgepodge of sheets copied from a variety of sources. It was difficult to follow and often difficult to read due to poor copy quality. The homework answer sheets were full of errors. We spent many hours online trying to learn the lessons using online searches and Kahn Academy.  

- The curriculum assumes the students have had the Common Core curriculum in previous years. These students have not. In fact they have gaps from the over-acceleration under the old curriculum. So they must now learn material from the common core math they missed, fill math gaps from the old curriculum, and synthesize a new curriculum for Algebra, all with inadequate material and poorly prepared teachers. The students were set up to fail. 

-These same students are on a path to take Geometry next year, followed by Algebra 2 and Pre calculus. Next year will be the rollout of the new Geometry curriculum. The following year will be the rollout of the new Algebra 2 curriculum, and the following year Pre calculus. So these same students are the guinea pigs four years in a row. And they have failed Algebra I, so now they are at an even bigger disadvantage.

The County must take responsibility for all the factors that resulted in so many of the students failing to really learn Algebra. They must also delay the implementation of the common core curriculum in Geometry-Precalculus so as not to "penalize" these exact same students and to assure a proper roll out.

~MCPS Parent

Sentinel Cartoon: Lowering the Bar

Click here for cartoon in this week's Montgomery Sentinel.

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/images/cartoons/SENTINEL_2014-07-10_Lowering_the_Bar.jpg

WJLA: Montgomery County schools adjusts final Algebra grade after more than 80 percent fail exam | WJLA.com

Montgomery County schools adjusts final Algebra grade after more than 80 percent fail exam | WJLA.com

“I don’t appreciate it. I don’t agree with it. I think if a child wasn’t able to make a grade that child needs to step up and regroup and try to make that grade,” said Toby Suarez, a Montgomery County parent.
The grade change was also upsetting for some students who have taken the class in the past and fought hard to get passing grades.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/07/montgomery-county-schools-adjusts-final-algebra-grade-after-more-than-80-percent-fail-exam-104667.html#ixzz36FVOdQan
Follow us: @ABC7News on Twitter | WJLATV on Facebook

Forbes: What does it say about our public school system when 82% of the high school students in a suburban county fail their Algebra 1 final exams?

...It implies quite strongly that our public schools are not doing a good job preparing America’s students in science, technology engineering and math (STEM) fields. 

The high failure rate on the exams happened in Montgomery County, Maryland, which is considered a well-off suburb of Washington, D.C., with high taxes that residents pay, at least in part, to fund the schools. According to U.S. News & World Report, “Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools contains 28 high schools. The district contains 11 schools that received gold, silver or bronze medals in the U.S. News Best High Schools rankings.”...

Article continues at link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2014/06/30/an-82-percent-failure-rate-on-high-school-algebra-exams/

MCPS Algebra 1B Failures: "I am surprised that you [Starr and BOE] appear surprised"

To Superintendent Joshua Starr and the Montgomery County Board of Education:

I am writing to express my concerns for how MCPS is handling the spring failures in Algebra 1B and the system’s plans for supporting our students in the future. I have spent so much time on this issue that I believe it’s important for me to write, especially since I believe my suggestions can make a difference.

First, I am unfortunately not surprised by our student’s performance on the exams. But I am surprised that you appear surprised (using the word “discovered” in your public announcement). And I’m concerned with how you are handling the test results. MCPS knew in March, 2014 that:

• Our teachers had struggled from a lack of staff development as they rolled out our new CS 2.0 curriculum, and we were introducing a new Algebra curriculum;
• The math assessment work group was reviewing the difference between the results of a teacher survey and a focus group with successful teachers, and talking about the need for additional staff development devoted to improving assessment skills;
• The President of the Board of Education was alerting MSDE that significant instructional time would be lost due to the requirement to give the MSA and HSA to students, since both included material no longer part of the CS 2.0 curriculum.
• It was still cold and we were regularly closing school because of snow.

In essence, MCPS knew in March that our time-stressed teachers would have LESS time to teach a new curriculum. Why then did central administration staff not reach out to all of the teachers of Algebra 1B and find out how much of the curriculum they would be unable to teach? If MCPS had surveyed the staff to understand what part of the curriculum was not going to be taught to Algebra 1B students, the end-of-year assessment could have been adjusted to reflect only the material that was taught, and the children would have had a chance to take a test that was consistent with what they learned. Alternatively, to ensure that the test results accurately reflected what students learned in the spring, MCPS could have eliminated the questions that covered untaught material from the test and re-scored the exams. Both of these alternatives allow the results of the exams to reflect individual student achievement. Adding 15% to all test scores doesn’t. That trick merely re-aligns the average failure rate with our previous failure rate. I can think of no other reason that explains the 15%. If there is one, I’d love to hear it.

Of course, we can’t go back, we can only go forward. I’m very concerned that you will be able to get every child that took Algebra 1B this past year into summer school - free or not. I certainly hope that you have identified a tracking mechanism to identify which children will be attending school and which won’t. That should enable you to follow-up and determine the impact of the system’s teaching of this year’s version of Algebra 1, both the complete version and the incomplete version, versus last year’s version of the course versus next year’s version. Each cohort may require unique supports to keep them on track towards successful completion of our high school math objectives.

I also hope you will reconsider moving the untaught Algebra 1B units into Geometry. When we examined the causes for math assessment failures in Geometry, some of the reasons pertained to that particular subject material. The course is already chock full of a wide variety of difficult subject matter. I believe it would be far wiser to move the material not taught in Algebra 1B to Algebra 2A. It wouldn’t hurt for all students to get the additional review of the material, even those who did get the chance to learn the material the first time around (something we learned from that study group with our best teachers).

I hope you will do a complete review of both the winter and spring Algebra assessments with some of our best Algebra teachers and math resource specialists in middle and high school, as recommended by the math assessment work group. While it’s beneficial for our system to have one assessment used across the system, it’s critical that our teachers and math resource specialists have a voice in their design. That way we can ensure that we’re truly using the best assessment instruments for our children.

Finally, I hope you will recognize that staff development is not a nicety, it’s essential. MCPS has to stop rolling out new curriculum without it. It’s essential for our teachers. It’s essential for our students.

I remain willing to support MCPS in ensuring our children have the best education.

Sincerely,

Merry Eisner-Heidorn

MCPS Windfall for Algebra 1B Failures: Summer Class Costs $300 Per Student!

The Parents' Coalition had already heard from MCPS parents that there was a serious problem with the Algebra 1B exam scores prior to today's announcement.  

The parents were being told that their child failed the MCPS semester exam for Algebra 1B and that in order to advance to the next level of math in the fall their student would have to re-take Algebra 1B in the summer.  

Here's the catch.  Summer school is NOT FREE!  MCPS charges students $300 per summer school class. 

Hundreds of Algebra 1B students are now being told to re-take the class over the summer in order to pass the MCPS semester exam.  Taking the class in the summer will cost each of those students $300.  

Somehow the MCPS Press Release and The Washington Post have been unable to cough up that important detail. 

Starr's Friday Bad News: Higher number of students received failing grades on the Algebra tests - Starr to Add 15 Points for Everyone

Superintendent Joshua Starr's plan is to simply add 15 percentage points to the results of every test to make up for the high number of low and failing grades on the Algebra exams. (We are not making this up. This is not an article from The Onion.) 

MCPS Bad News for a Friday Afternoon Press Release: 

 
...In the process of reviewing the results of Algebra 1B semester exams, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) staff discovered that a higher than expected number of middle and high school students received low and failing grades on the tests... 

...Because students had no control over this loss of instructional time, the semester exams were recalculated... 

Read the press release at this link:http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=3561

Dancis: Do not rush students into Algebra in Grade 8

Is PISA [Program for International Student Assessment] valid? The question rarely asked. Answer: NO!


It's Finland Beware – NOT Beware of Finland. Finnish engineering students have difficulty with fractions and simple algebraic expressions.
"What does [how students answered the questions on] the International PISA Math Test Really Tell Us?" is the title of my article," which appeared in American Association of School Administrators Journal of Scholarship and Practice. See Pages 31-42 at
http://www.aasa.org/uploadedFiles/Publications/Journals/AASA_Journal_of_Scholarship_and_Practice/JPS-Winter2014-FINAL.pdf

What does PISA Math Really tell us? Students need instruction in multi-step Arithmetic word problems. 


What does PISA Math not tell us? Students need instruction in Arithmetic and Algebraic calculations. Students need the opportunity to develop "number sense".


For these reasons, do not rush students into Algebra in Grade 8.

Jerome Dancis, PhD

Exclusive: Monitoring of Student Achievement Calendar

Now that the Seven Keys are out, here's a draft calendar showing what data MCPS is going to be tracking under Superintendent Joshua Starr's leadership.  This draft calendar was presented to the BOE at their off-site meeting on June 20, 2013.  

Note that one of the things replacing the Seven Keys is Hope, Wellbeing and Engagement.  Fortunately, we can pay no bid survey company Gallup almost $1 million dollars a year to rate our students' Hope, Wellbeing and Engagement.  

Lucky Gallup! They are guaranteed annual renewal of their no-bid contract for as long as Superintendent Starr is here.

  DRAFT - Strategic Plan Monitoring Calendar.pdf by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County to put all students on path for algebra in grade eight

While some Montgomery parents have been worried that their elementary-aged children aren’t receiving the math acceleration they need in the new Curriculum 2.0, the county school system revealed Tuesday that, under the curriculum, all students should ready for higher-level math, sooner.
The goal is to get all students to Algebra 1 by eighth grade, which would allow them to begin taking college-level courses, such as AP calculus, by senior year.
“Algebra 1 by grade 8” is already one of the school system’s “Seven Keys to College Readiness,” but it is not the designated course path for all students.
The current math pathway allows students to be accelerated through courses to achieve this, but in 2012 only about 70 percent of eighth-graders took algebra 1, according to school system data.
The goal is “lofty,” according to Linda Sheffield, a professor emerita from Northern Kentucky University and curriculum expert who the board invited to speak at their meeting on Tuesday.
“I would think that it is a nice long-term goal,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield said most colleges do not expect to see calculus on a high school transcript.
The school system data also showed that as the school system has pushed more students into algebra 1 before high school in the last few years, more students failed the course.

http://www.gazette.net/article/20130108/NEWS/130109745/montgomery-county-to-put-all-students-on-path-for-algebra-in-grade&template=gazette

MCPS 13th in State on Algebra High School Assessment

Passing rate on the 2010 Algebra High School Assessment, MCPS ranked just 13th among Maryland's 24 school systems at 88.1% either Advanced or Proficient.  Decidedly middle of the pack results for MCPS.
 
Interesting however that when ranking the school districts by "Advanced only" MCPS ranked 5th.   
 
Bob A.
 
 

County Name	Adv & Prof	Adv. Only	Basic
Calvert	96.0%	46.8%	4.0%
Howard	94.9%	50.7%	5.1%
Washington	94.1%	45.2%	5.9%
Carroll	93.4%	33.9%	6.6%
Worcester	93.3%	41.8%	6.7%
Cecil	92.1%	35.7%	7.9%
Queen Anne's	91.7%	35.7%	8.3%
Frederick	91.7%	38.5%	8.3%
Anne Arundel	91.6%	37.6%	8.4%
Harford	91.0%	32.1%	9.0%
Talbot	89.4%	34.6%	10.6%
Saint Mary's	88.8%	27.2%	11.2%
Montgomery	88.1%	41.6%	11.9%
Caroline	87.7%	24.0%	12.3%
Garrett	86.5%	30.2%	13.5%
Charles	86.5%	22.5%	13.5%
Baltimore County	85.2%	25.9%	14.8%
Dorchester	80.2%	22.2%	19.8%
Allegany	79.5%	27.1%	20.5%
Somerset	79.1%	18.6%	20.9%
Wicomico	78.9%	16.9%	21.1%
Kent	73.1%	9.6%	26.9%
Prince George's	67.8%	14.3%	32.2%
Baltimore City	61.8%	7.4%	38.2%
All Public Schools	83.6%	30.1%	16.4%