What Harvard Omitted from their Highland Elem. Case Study

9 months after Highland Elementary School in Silver Spring was awarded the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) Blue Ribbon Award in December of 2008, the ink was dry on a Harvard Public Education Leadership Project Case Study on the school by Stacey Childress* and Andrew Goldin.


The Harvard Case Study was cited recently in the AJC article on Highland Elementary.  


However, the Harvard Case Study neglected to include some important data and information in their Case Study of the school. One of the authors of the Harvard Case Study also neglected to mention her personal involvement with the reading evaluation products used at Highland Elementary School (mClass and DIBELS are products of a company called Wireless Generation). 


Here's what should be added to the timeline in the Harvard Case Study: enrollment data and the relationship of one of the authors to the product used a Highland Elementary. 

• August 2004:  Highland Elementary School students in School Community Based (SCB) program are permanently moved to Glen Haven Elementary School (Source: FY2005 MCPS Master Plan, p. 4-32)

• August 2007:  Highland Elementary School is redistricted and 153 students from the northern part of the Highland district are moved to the re-opened Arcola Elementary School

• October 1, 2008 Stacey Childress joins Wireless Generation Board of Directors

• December 18, 2008:  Highland Elementary announced as MSDE Blue Ribbon winner (Maryland award)

• March 17, 2009:  Highland Elementary receives Urban Education Award

• September 10, 2009:  Harvard PELP Case Study released (authors Childress and Goldin)

• September 15, 2009: Highland Elementary named National Blue Ribbon School

*Note Ms. Childress wrote a separate Case Study on the relationship between MCPS and Wireless Generation and the $500,000 investment in the company that MCPS made.  That Case Study is no longer public on the Harvard PELP site and MCPS has not made that Case Study public. 


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UPDATE from Bob Astrove:  That only tells a small piece of the enrollment picture. The enrollment at the school dropped by over 300 students from 2002 (788 students) to 461 today (456 in 2009 when they won the award).
Enrollment dropped by 100 students from 2004 to 2006, and by another 150 or so from 2007 to 2008. Your comments only reference the second transfer out of students.
Overall enrollment was reduced by 40%.
Gee, you'd think that would be a big deal in the Harvard Case Study. But it wasn't. Too many people trying to pat themselves on the back and therefore overlooked the single number that moved the most - reducing the number of students.
In my mind that pretty much trashes the credibility of the entire case study. I guess sometimes even Harvard can screw up?...
Bob Astrove  

Starr Scapegoats Special Education

In his press release discussing Highland Elementary and the Atlanta Journal Constitution article, Dr. Starr wasted no time in scapegoating special education students for Highland's recent failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

 "The article suggests that the fact that Highland didn’t make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2011 is a further indication of questionable results in the past. Yet, the authors fail to mention that in 2011, Highland missed AYP by four students in just one subgroup—special education—in mathematics during a year that the Academic Measurable Objective increased. This data tells us nothing about Highland, but rather speaks to the absurdity of the AYP formula." 

Weast has been gone only 10 months, and already special education students are being blamed for a school's failure. Not a good sign, Dr. Starr. We had hoped we were in for a change.

Concerned Mont. Co. Parent and Highland Elementary School Graduate, Class of 1989

Dear Parent's Coalition,

I attended Highland Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD the 1980s for six years. I know that school well and I looked into the data. It is every bit as suspicious as you suggest. I too was suspicious of this data when I saw it a few years ago. I still live in Montgomery County with three children of my own.

You should ask more questions because I am very certain that the test data of Highland Elementary School shows that something is amiss.

Here are 4 important issues that the data show which need further investigation:

(1) How can a school have 61.9% of its students be receiving special instruction for Limited English Proficiency (see link below) and in precisely the same year (2009) have 94% of its students be advanced in not any subject in particular but English reading specifically?

http://www.mdreportcard.org/SpecialServices.aspx?PV=36:E:15:0774:1:N:0:14:1:2:1:1:1:1:3&static=Y

Of course this is patently absurd.

(2) With a student body that has a majority of immigrant students of limited English proficiency, you would expect greater success at math or science than English reading. Instead, the opposite is true: 

Here are the astonishingly high reading scores:

http://www.mdreportcard.org/MsaTrends.aspx?PV=1:5:15:0774:3:N:0:13:1:2:2:1:1:1:3

Here are the relatively poor math scores:

http://www.mdreportcard.org/MsaTrends.aspx?PV=1:5:15:0774:3:N:0:13:2:2:2:1:1:1:3

And here are the extremely poor science scores:

http://www.mdreportcard.org/MsaTrends.aspx?PV=1:5:15:0774:3:N:0:13:3:2:2:1:1:1:3

These supposedly incredible teachers and students did very poorly in the very areas that one would have expected them to excel at.

(3) An important statistical technique is to look at cohort effects. The reading data shows a massive jump from 2007 to 2008 in the fifth grade data. Then there is a massive drop from 2010 to 2011. We can follow the *same group of students* for fourth and third grades and see what we find.

Looking at the fourth grade data we see that the very same group of students that reported 80% advanced reading in 5th grade in 2008 reported only 25% advanced reading in 2007 in 4th grade. 

http://www.mdreportcard.org/MsaTrends.aspx?PV=1:4:15:0774:3:N:0:13:1:2:2:1:1:1:3

From 2010 to 2011, there was a huge drop from 86% advanced reading in the fifth grade level to 42% in 2011. That same group of students reporting that incredible 86% of students achieving advanced in fifth grade had only shown 30% advanced reading two years earlier in third grade.

http://www.mdreportcard.org/MsaTrends.aspx?PV=1:3:15:0774:3:N:0:13:1:2:2:1:1:1:3

Even more astonishing to me, that group of students reported to have an incredible 94% of their students achieving advanced reading in 5th grade in 2009, was the same group that reported a mere 12.1% advanced reading in 2007 in third grade.

This group that reported such terrific results was apparently not learning much along the way.

(4) In 2009, at the same time that the fifth grade class at Highland elementary was reporting such incredible results with 94% of all students performing at an advanced level, the third grade class under the same school leadership was performing at an abysmally low level with just 13.6% of students doing advanced reading. This is going on simultaneously! 

Please don't let these questions go unanswered. Something is very fishy.

Best regards,

Daniel Hess

Concerned Montgomery County Parent and Highland Elementary School Graduate, Class of 1989

FOXdc: Report questions dramatic improvement of scores at Montgomery County school

FOXdc interviewed Superintendent Joshua Starr on the issue of the dramatic rise of Highland Elementary School test scores in 2008-2009.  FOXdc did not ask Superintendent Starr why the Highland scores then fell.

Report questions dramatic improvement of scores at Montgomery County school: MyFoxDC.com

A few facts to go with the MCPS spin

The MCPS Press Release on Highland Elementary School today says:

"However, Mr. Judd [the AJC reporter] was told numerous times that the drop [in test scores at Highland] was related to budget reductions that resulted in the loss of staff that helped with focused reading instruction and interventions for students that were struggling."

So let's Fact Check that statement from MCPS by looking at the data on Highland Elementary for the years in question.  


The peak in the Highland Elementary test scores as shown on the AJC article chart was 2009.  Then the scores began to fall again.  

Click on image for full screen view to show all columns.

*  Spending per pupil as to School Personnel Cost. (source MCPS Schools at a Glance) 


** The local school budget information in these years gave more details than after 2008.  So the budget numbers for years with **  will be higher as they include all of the funding for the local school.  After 2008, MCPS limited the budget data that was released for each local school. 


*** This was the year that MCPS withheld local school budget information from the public so the budget for this local school for that year is not available.

Let's be clear: When cheating does exist, MCPS will work to cover it up.

MCPS has issued the following press release in response to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution article on Highland Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD.  Bear in mind that when there were allegations of cheating at Potomac Elementary School MCPS was busy covering up the issue. 


The AJC article and accompanying chart raised questions about how test scores could climb, and then fall. Will MCPS investigate the phenomenon or seek to ignore the issue at hand?

Dr. Starr Responds to Irresponsible Atlanta Journal-Constitution Article  April 30, 2012
	MCPS Superintendent of Schools Joshua P. Starr offered the following response to Sunday's article in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution:  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) has published an article that looked at the standardized test results of schools that were named National Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. Highland Elementary School, in Silver Spring, was one of the schools included in the AJC’s article. The story identifies large swings in standardized test scores for the schools that won the Blue Ribbon award. The AJC’s implication is that Highland students and staff must have cheated.  Let me be clear: The turnaround that occurred at Highland Elementary School was the result of having a great school leader and a motivated staff that had the training, support and resources it needed to serve its students. There has never been an allegation of cheating at Highland Elementary School since the school’s turnaround began and the school continues to get tremendous results even as its resources have been cut significantly over the past four years. The AJC’s story not only represents irresponsible journalism, but it fosters the very stereotypes that have dogged public education for too long. The underlying message is that schools comprised of mostly African American, Hispanic or poor students cannot achieve at a high level unless they cheat. We know that is not the case and are disturbed by the inference. There are no shortcuts to this success. It takes focus, investment and commitment, but all students can learn if they are provided the instruction, supports and interventions they need. Highland has nothing to hide, which is why we welcomed AJC reporter Alan Judd to the school. He saw the tremendous instruction going on in each classroom, saw multiple examples of great student work and spoke at length to the teachers and principals. Little of that is represented in the story, and what is represented is in the last section of the article long after the suggestion of cheating has been made. The AJC does not offer one scintilla of evidence that cheating occurred at Highland, but rather uses inferences and selective data in an attempt to prove its point. The article suggests that Highland’s performance on state assessments has fallen dramatically, focusing on a drop in the percentage of students that scored in the “advanced” range in 5th grade reading. However, Mr. Judd was told numerous times that the drop was related to budget reductions that resulted in the loss of staff that helped with focused reading instruction and interventions for students that were struggling. He fails to mention that the percentage of 5th grade students scoring at proficient or higher on the reading exam was above 95 percent, where it has been for three consecutive years. The article suggests that the fact that Highland didn’t make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2011 is a further indication of questionable results in the past. Yet, the authors fail to mention that in 2011, Highland missed AYP by four students in just one subgroup—special education—in mathematics during a year that the Academic Measurable Objective increased. This data tells us nothing about Highland, but rather speaks to the absurdity of the AYP formula.  The AJC had its story written long before it visited Highland Elementary, which is unfortunate. But that does not diminish the accomplishments of the school’s staff and students. I challenge anyone to walk the halls of Highland, watch the teaching and learning in the classrooms and see the quality of the student work and not come away convinced that the school’s test scores are not only valid, but are also just a small indicator of its success.

At Blue Ribbon schools, big gains, an award, then declines

Atlanta-Journal Constitution: At Blue Ribbon schools, big gains, an award, then declines

...At dozens of schools, statistically improbable spikes in test scores peaked in the year the schools submitted successful Blue Ribbon applications, the AJC analysis found. In that year, suspicious gains occurred about three times more often in Blue Ribbon winners than at all schools nationwide. At many, scores fell after the award.
Highland Elementary of Montgomery County, Md., is one school that follows this pattern...

Atlanta Newspaper Reports on MCPS Elementary's Test Scores Rise and Fall

Cheating our children: Suspect scores put award’s integrity in question  | ajc.com

...It was failing, badly, and was in danger of becoming the first school in Montgomery County, an affluent, high-achieving suburb of Washington, D.C., to be taken over by the state. The superintendent of schools [Jerry Weast] lured a highly regarded principal out of retirement to take one last shot at saving the school. The new principal focused on reading and math, the subjects tested to determine whether a school meets federal standards known as “adequate yearly progress.” Over three years, average scores jumped as much as 78 percentage points.
This narrative began to fall apart in the years following Highland’s Blue Ribbon designation. Some test scores dropped almost as sharply as they had risen. Last year, for the first time since 2005, Highland failed to make AYP..