The Black & White: Administrators push for AP NSL students to take the Government HSA

Administrators required all U.S. Government students to take the Government High School Assessment May 22. In previous years, administrators expected only honors and on-level Government (NSL) students to take the HSA the same year they took the course, while AP students who scored below a three on the AP exam took the HSA the following year.

The number of last year’s AP students who took the HSA at the beginning of this school year because they received a one or two on the AP exam is unknown to social studies department head Suzy Johnson.

Administrators changed this requirement in order to prevent those who did not pass from having to take it next year, assistant principal Rainer Kulenkampff said.

“It would be more difficult to take the test later on because it would be a year after you took NSL, so it just gets harder,” Kulenkampff said. “We need to make sure that people get their graduation requirements, and we need to make sure that our students are successful.”

The Maryland State Department of Education requires that students either pass the Algebra 1, Biology, English 10 and U.S. Government HSAs or earn a sufficient combined score between all of them in order to graduate. But students who score a three or higher on the AP U.S. Government exam can receive an exemption from MCPS for the related HSA...

http://theblackandwhite.net/56276/news/administrators-push-for-ap-nsl-students-to-take-the-government-hsa/

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

Silver Chips Online: Blair fails to meet Adequate Yearly Progress

Limited English Proficiency falls just below set percentage

Blair is one of 12 Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to miss the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) mark for the 2010-2011 school year. This is the first time in four years that Blair has not met AYP. Blair also fell short of the High School Assessment (HSA) English standards by a margin of two students last year...

Guest Post on "Race to Nowhere"

Hello!

My son is a bright, hardworking, musical kid. But the pressure he puts on himself to achieve is having some truly negative implications that you may or may not see at school. "Race to Nowhere," the film the Magruder HS PTSA is screening 11/4, tells the stories of many kids who are struggling with similar issues. For some it manifests as physical symptoms, for others it's emotional stress, others are socially isolated. And for one girl the pressure to be excellent was too much - she took her life at 13.

When I took my son to see this film for the first time, his immediate reaction was, "That's exactly my life." This is not what I want for my kid - or for any kid.

As an educator, I see my and other teachers' frustrations echoed in the film. The pressure to get through the curriculum, and meet state and national expectations can cause us to shortchange our students in ways that can have long term implications. I also see the students for whom the pressure is too much, too soon and by the time they reach middle and high school they've checked-out and don't even try to keep up, let alone excel.

I'm hopeful that the film screening and the follow-up discussions will be the start to developing some real solutions to help our kids achieve balance and for us to do the best job possible to help them reach their full potential.

As far as my son goes, he may take a different path to reach balance. He's applying to the Duke Ellington School for the Arts for next year. The academic rigor is nowhere near that at Magruder (especially in PEAC) and he'll get the music that is his passion  - and that may be a very good thing.

Feel free to share this with anyone you think may be interested in seeing the film. Here are the details:

What: Screening of the film, "Race to Nowhere" (www.racetonowhere.com) and facilitated discussion following the film
Who: students, parents, teachers, administrators - anyone concerned about kids
Where: Magruder HS Auditorium
When: Thursday, November 4, 7 PM
To purchase tickets ($10 in advance, $15 at the door, with proceeds going to Magruder's PTSA): http://www.racetonowhere.com/screenings/magruder-high-school

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Jennifer Boudrye

MCPS 5th on English HSAs

On the English High School Assessment MCPS did well, ranking 5th out of Maryland's 24 school districts, and second when looking at the % of students scoring Advanced.
 
But noteworthy that 3 of the 4 Maryland County's that border Montgomery outscored MCPS (Howard, Frederick, & Carroll).  

Bob A.

 

County	Adv & Prof.	Adv.Only	Basic
Calvert	91.7%	40.7%	8.3%
Howard	90.2%	48.8%	9.8%
Carroll	88.9%	32.2%	11.1%
Frederick	86.2%	35.1%	13.8%
Montgomery	85.7%	42.4%	14.3%
Anne Arundel	85.1%	29.7%	14.9%
Baltimore County	83.8%	28.5%	16.2%
Washington	83.4%	28.3%	16.6%
Saint Mary's	83.1%	28.6%	16.9%
Queen Anne's	82.8%	35.0%	17.2%
Charles	81.6%	24.9%	18.4%
Cecil	81.3%	26.4%	18.7%
Garrett	80.8%	26.9%	19.2%
Harford	80.5%	27.7%	19.5%
Worcester	79.1%	27.2%	20.9%
Talbot	79.0%	28.3%	21.0%
Kent	77.8%	17.1%	22.2%
Caroline	76.7%	26.0%	23.3%
Somerset	76.0%	21.0%	24.0%
Dorchester	75.2%	11.7%	24.8%
Allegany	75.1%	22.6%	24.9%
Wicomico	74.8%	21.6%	25.2%
Prince George's	68.9%	15.0%	31.1%
Baltimore City	61.3%	8.9%	38.7%
All Public Schools	80.1%	28.9%	19.9%

MCPS 7th on Biology HSA

MCPS ranked 7th among Marylands 24 school districts on the 2010 High School Assessment for Biology.  

And ranked second among school districts for % of students scoring advanced.
 
However, as with other assessments, 3 of the 4 Maryland County's in close proximity to Montgomery County outscored MCPS (Howard, Frederick, & Carroll)
 
Bob A.
 
 

County	Adv & Prof	Adv Only	Basic
Calvert	97.1%	28.2%	2.9%
Howard	93.0%	33.6%	7.0%
Saint Mary's	92.6%	23.0%	7.4%
Carroll	91.5%	28.2%	8.5%
Frederick	90.8%	26.3%	9.2%
Garrett	90.6%	14.8%	9.4%
Montgomery	89.3%	31.0%	10.7%
Queen Anne's	89.0%	11.3%	11.0%
Washington	88.8%	15.1%	11.3%
Caroline	87.7%	13.4%	12.3%
Cecil	86.8%	15.8%	13.2%
Harford	86.8%	15.4%	13.2%
Anne Arundel	86.7%	14.1%	13.3%
Worcester	85.8%	19.8%	14.2%
Talbot	84.0%	13.8%	16.0%
Charles	82.7%	14.9%	17.3%
Baltimore County	82.6%	13.5%	17.4%
Dorchester	81.5%	10.1%	18.5%
Allegany	80.0%	10.8%	20.0%
Somerset	76.0%	8.2%	24.0%
Kent	74.4%	8.3%	25.6%
Wicomico	72.9%	6.6%	27.1%
Prince George's	61.4%	5.3%	38.6%
Baltimore City	57.1%	2.4%	42.9%
All Public Schools	81.0%	17.4%	19.0%

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%

New Promotion Criteria for MCPS High School Students

New Promotion Criteria for MCPS High School Students

Hundreds of Md. graduates use test waivers | Washington Examiner

Hundreds of Md. graduates use test waivers | Washington Examiner

Students from MontCo, Pr. George's account for 62 percent of total

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100% Pass Rate in All Subgroups!

Today the Maryland State Department of Education released the results of the 2009 administration of the High School Assessments (HSA). 2009 was the first year that passing the HSAs was a Maryland graduation requirement.

The following Maryland Counties are showing that 100% of the 2009 - 12th graders took all 4 HSA tests and met the requirement in ALL subgroups (Amer. Indian/African American/Asian/White/Hispanic/Special Ed/LEP/FARMS)



Click on the County to see the detailed results.

Anne Arundel
Calvert
Carroll
Cecil
Charles
Garrett
Harford
Queen Anne's
Somerset
Washington
Worcester

Doubts emerge as statewide tests keep just 11 from diploma -- baltimoresun.com

Doubts emerge as statewide tests keep just 11 from diploma -- baltimoresun.com

...Bebe Verdery, education director for the Maryland ACLU, said board members should not worry that the standards are too low until more students can pass.

"School systems generally did a good job of supporting students to meet the high school requirement through alternate routes so there were not huge numbers of students who didn't graduate," Verdery said. "The fact remains however, that only two-thirds of the seniors were able to pass all four tests and that points toward the need to improve instruction.

"The number who did not meet the requirement does not include those who may have dropped out because they became discouraged and believed they would never pass. In the Class of 2009, 1,700 dropped out last year and 2,200 failed to graduate because they hadn't passed classes and the tests. About 10,000 students in the class had dropped out over the course of four years, said Leslie Wilson, who is in charge of testing for the state...

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How many seniors at your high school haven't met HSA requirements?

Baltimore Sun

Inside Ed: How many seniors at your school haven't met HSA requirements?

Check out this chart for the number and percentage of seniors at most high schools in the region who had not yet met High School Assessment requirements as of earlier this month. The numbers are constantly changing; since these figures were calculated, 1,759 projects have been submitted in the city alone.

and related story:

8% of seniors at risk of not graduating

...About 76 percent of the students who have not met the requirement attend public schools in Montgomery, Prince George's and Baltimore counties as well as Baltimore City...