...I don’t want to be insensitive here, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the vast majority of MCPS black seniors and seniors in high schools like Wheaton, Kennedy, and Watkins Mill are graduating not ready for college...
http://rockville.patch.com/blog_posts/eight-out-of-10-black-mcps-graduates-are-not-college-ready
Washington-area high school students are failing a larger percentage of college course-level exams -- losing out on college credit and showing a shortfall in learning -- as more of them take the test...
...Montgomery's participation increased most significantly for minorities: 16.4 percent more black and 9.2 percent more Hispanic students took at least one AP exam, compared with a 1.6 percent increase for white students.A teacher at Sherwood High School said most Montgomery high schools have special committees to identify minority students who should take AP courses."Like kids who haven't taken any AP classes but have been getting Bs and Cs, or if their GPA is above 2.0, they'll try to target that student and enroll them in an AP course," said the teacher, who spoke on background. "They know the subgroups they're trying to increase [participation for]. It's not a secret."Of 19 subjects areas offered, 50 percent or more of black test-takers failed 12 subject areas. On nine of the exams, at least half of Hispanic students failed. There were no exams on which white or Asian students failed at a rate of 50 percent......But there were benefits to taking AP classes, even if a student didn't pass the year-end exam: "You're being exposed to challenging material. You're with a different group of kids than you would otherwise be with," the Sherwood teacher said.
Read more at the Washington Examiner here
Much of Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry Weast's 11-year tenure has focused on closing the "achievement gap" between black and Hispanic students and their higher-performing white and Asian peers."We have a firm commitment to a vision that race, ethnicity and poverty will not be predictors of academic success," said Weast, who is retiring in June.But more minority students failed the HSAs: 88.5 percent of black students passed, down from 90.1 in 2009; meanwhile, 88.2 percent of Hispanic students passed, down from 91.4 percent. Nearly 99 percent of white students passed the HSAs, as did 97 percent of Asian students, for drops of less than 1 percentage point from 2009. (The pass rate includes multiple attempts.)
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/local/More-MontCo-students-taking-alternative-route-to-diplomas-1132745-104441038.html#ixzz11fyNUigP
Among Md. schools, Montgomery is no outlier
By John C. Larson
The Post once again waxes rhapsodic about the Montgomery County Public Schools [“Gold star for Montgomery schools,” editorial, Sept. 23]. And many of the district’s accomplishments unquestionably deserve celebration. But the discourse in the media could benefit from a corrective balance in the light of gains seen elsewhere in Maryland.
(...)
In math, the 2010 average for Montgomery elementary schools was 88.9 percent of students “proficient” or higher. That score was 13th best in the state, making the district part of a cluster of eight others lying within two percentage points of Montgomery. These scores are good, but they simply don’t jibe with The Post’s editorial declaration that MCPS should be “proud of its status as the state’s top-performing school system.”
(...)
Thus, elementary schools outside Montgomery County are converging more rapidly toward the 100 percent proficiency goal than are those in Montgomery.
(...)
The writer is a former coordinator for applied research for the Department of Shared Accountability in the Montgomery County Public Schools. He retired in 2003 after 25 years of service.
More than 85 percent of Virginia high school seniors received diplomas on time in 2010 - marking a two point increase in the state's overall graduation rate, as well as a three point improvement among black and hispanic students.
State education officials said the numbers, which were released Thursday, represented a step toward closing the longstanding achievement gap between white and minority students. That trend was particularly pronounced among school districts in Northern Virginia, which outpaced the state's improvements in several categories. The graduation rate among Hispanics in Prince William County leapt more than 8 percent...
| POWER Program Goals | Short-term Outcome | Intermediate Outcome | Long-term Outcome |
| 1) Increase teacher and administrator effectiveness, thereby improving student achievement, by offering extensive professional development | Develop a POWER professional development plan to address the specific needs of POWER teachers and administrators | Provide guidance, skills, and strategies to improve student learning and achievement | Develop, implement, and refine a comprehensive and sustainable teacher and administrator PBCS that uses a new evaluation system, resulting in improved student achievement at WCPS's high-need schools |
| 2) Develop teacher and administrator performance-based compensation systems, so that teachers and administrators are rewarded for student growth | Develop a formula for providing monetary incentives based on pre- and post-assessment tools | ||
| 3) Increase the number of effective teachers teaching low-income and disadvantaged students in high-need schools and hard-to-staff subjects | Develop a staffing strategic plan designed to recruit and support effective teachers willing to work in high-need schools and in hard-to staff subjects | Provide pay incentives to teachers and administrators working and teaching in high-need schools and in hard-to staff subjects | Attract, develop, and retain high qualified effective teachers and administrators to improve student achievement in high need schools |
...Meanwhile, a significant racial achievement gap exists in meeting the school system's SAT benchmark for college readiness. Only 17.8 percent of blacks and 22.6 percent of Hispanics in the 2010 class achieved a 1650 or higher, indicating they are ready for college with no remedial courses, the school system said. Among Asians, 64.1 percent achieved that score, and 64.7 percent of whites reached it.
The percentages of black and Hispanic students who met the 1650 benchmark were up from 2009 by 2.2 and 3.3 percent, respectively. But the percentage of Hispanics who met that score has declined by 1.8 percent since 2006, and the percentages for blacks in 2006 and 2009 are identical...
Regarding the Aug. 25 editorial "Mr. Weast steps down," on Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast's plans to retire at the end of this school year:
No disrespect to Mr. Weast, as he has done an admirable job, but the editorial made it seem as though he had come up with the idea (in 1999!) of trying to narrow the achievement gap between higher- and lower-performing groups of students.
I began working for Fairfax County Public Schools in 1980, and within two years one of the major emphases of the system was closing the achievement gap. Then, as now, the major gaps looked at were those between white and non-white students...
...“Montgomery County is the only district in the country that has successfully closed the achievement gap,” Decter said. “They have special education inclusion, intervention in every grade to make sure students advance. Our vision is her reality.”Full article at link:
...The decision followed a week of interviews, tours, and public forums involving the three candidates. During today’s two-hour meeting, the board held a straw vote in which Fleishman was backed by all but one member, Margie Ross Decter, who favored Marks.
‘‘I think she’s exactly what we need when you look at all the criteria,’’ Decter said. ‘‘I’m a show-me person, and Dr. Marks has shown in her career how she can rise to the occasion.’’
Decter said Marks could bring some of the tremendous achievements of Montgomery County to Newton. “Montgomery County is the only district in the country that has successfully closed the achievement gap,” Decter said. “They have special education inclusion, intervention in every grade to make sure students advance. Our vision is her reality.”Decter's colleague, Geoffrey Epstein, said he preferred Fleishman because he had more direct experience with the nuts and bolts work of district management at a much earlier point in his professional life.
“Dr. Marks was part of a very high performing school system, but it's important to ask how many of its great aspects are attributable to her,” Epstein said. “The budget puck didn't stop with her. She's a very engaging educator at the end of her career trajectory, but I'm less sure she can transfer her experience here.”
After the straw vote, Decter joined the rest of her colleagues in backing Fleishman. ‘‘I thought all three of them were stars, and David Fleishman was the rising star,’’ she said. ‘‘There’s no question that Fleishman is also a great study.’’..
