Montgomery students’ scores fall in last year of state tests

http://www.gazette.net/article/20140711/NEWS/140719822/1124/montgomery-students-x2019-scores-fall-in-last-year-of-state-tests&template=gazette

Joshua Starr: "I do not care about Maryland's state assessment results, do not focus attention on it."

WSIU* NPR:  As Testing Season Opens In Schools, Some Ask: How Much Is Too Much?

...STARR: The current standardized tests that every child has to take every year, those are worthless in helping teachers actually plan instruction. And the teachers see that and they're caught betwixt and between. And I've said to them, I do not care about Maryland's state assessment results, do not focus attention on it...

*Southern Illinois University

MSDE policy on MSA opt out

Baltimore County Coalition for Education Oversight: MSDE policy on MSA opt out: Letter from Maryland State Department of Education to local school systems regarding MSA (State standardized test) opt out: Excerpt from Accommodations Manual: Students may be excused only...

O’Malley opposes attempt to stop MSA testing next month

O’Malley opposes attempt to stop MSA testing next month

Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2014/02/12/omalley-opposes-attempt-to-stop-msa-testing-next-month/#ixzz2tVvx65AC 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Feds Give Waiver to Prevent Double Testing of MD Students

The Washington Post:  Maryland students avoid ‘double-testing’

Teachers, school boards seek to drop standardized tests this year

...The Maryland State Department of Education continues to resist dropping the Maryland School Assessment. MSDE officials say dropping the test will save little money and potentially jeopardize $289 million in federal funds.
“They’re going to be tested on standards that are not aligned with what they’re being taught,” Christopher Barclay of the Montgomery County Board of Education told the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday.
Barclay was testifying on HB117 proposed by Del. Eric Luedtke, a Montgomery County Democrat and a teacher. The bill orders the state education department to seek a waiver from federal officials on the requirement for standardized tests under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
“It is educational malpractice,” said Tiferet Ani, a Montgomery County teacher. “This test has been meaningless” for some time, since it does not measure the progress of individual students, but schools as a whole.
School administrators “will not be looking at the results of these tests,” she said.
Ani had circulated a petition to drop the tests, and said it was a “dereliction” by the state education officials for not seeking a waiver from the federal mandate.
“They have not looked for a way to get out of this,” Ani said.
Jack Smith, chief academic officer for the State Department of Education, said dropping the test would save little money, since most of it had already been spent preparing the tests. And the move could potentially cause the state to lose $289 million in federal funds...

Read more: http://marylandreporter.com/2014/02/06/teachers-school-boards-seek-to-drop-this-years-standardized-tests/#ixzz2swbaeeIx 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

‘Our professional growth system is a hill to die on’

No mention of Pearson-MCPS assessments in this Gazette article.  What is Superintendent Joshua Starr hiding?

Gazette:  Starr: Standardized tests shouldn’t grade teachers

...According to a Dec. 31 story in The Washington Post, Starr’s opposition to Obama administration school reform programs, particularly a plan to evaluate teachers through standardized tests, might have cost him a job offer. The Post reported that U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan lobbied newly elected New York Mayor Bill De Blasio not to hire Starr. The city school system has 1.1 million students and 1,700 schools.

Gazette: King to submit bill seeking MSA waiver

Parents and teachers who don’t want students to take the soon-to-be phased-out Maryland School Assessment tests this year have gained an ally in the state legislature.
State Sen. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village said Monday she is drafting emergency legislation that would direct the Maryland State Department of Education to apply for a waiver from the federal government so schools can bypass the test this year.
The bill will be submitted the first day of the General Assembly’s session, King said.
The annual test has been used to assess elementary and middle school students’ performance but Maryland is now transitioning to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers test, a new state assessment that aligns with the Common Core State Standards.
The PARCC test — which will be piloted in some Montgomery County schools this year — will not be fully implemented in Maryland until next school year.
King said she has heard from teachers, parents and others who are concerned that the MSA tests don’t align with schools’ curriculums — which are based on the Common Core standards — and will waste instructional time and won’t benefit the students.
“It’s exhausting for these kids to take these tests,” she said. “They take so much time preparing for it.”

 http://www.gazette.net/article/20131218/NEWS/131219295/1070/king-to-submit-bill-seeking-msa-waiver&template=gazette

Petition: Cancel the MSA

Petition By Tiferet Ani

I am a teacher at a MCPS. I am very familiar with the amount of capital and human resources administering the Maryland State Assessment requires. Even though MD is switching over to the Common Core State Standards which will be assessed by PARCC the state is planning to administer the MSA this year although our testing coordinators have been told the scores won't be looked at or matter.  If this is the case it is an irresponsible waste of tax payer money and instructional time to administer this test.

Will your child be double tested this year?

From September 2013 in The Baltimore Sun:

The new common core curriculum, launched this year in every public school in the state, won't have new assessments to match until the 2014-2015 school year. The state must field test the new assessments next year, and officials say they have chosen to do so on 50,000 students across the state — a small group of students in every elementary and middle school.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-testing-changes-20130915,0,2396093.story#ixzz2f57zzcWr

MCPS 2013 Grade 3 MSA Reading Scores

	Grade 3 Reading 2013
Carderock Springs Elementary	100
Cashell Elementary	100
Cold Spring Elementary	100
Bradley Hills Elementary	100
Seven Locks Elementary	98.18181818
Farmland Elementary	98.05825243
Wayside Elementary	97.84946237
Thurgood Marshall Elementary	97.64705882
Wyngate Elementary	97.45762712
Kensington Parkwood Elementary	97.19626168
Bells Mill Elementary	97
Rachel Carson Elementary	96.57534247
Bannockburn Elementary	96.36363636
Westover Elementary	96.2962963
Cedar Grove Elementary	96.19047619
Westbrook Elementary	95.83333333
Chevy Chase Elementary	95.79831933
Darnestown Elementary	95.52238806
Diamond Elementary	95.28301887
College Gardens Elementary	95.13888889
Somerset Elementary	95.04950495
Spark M. Matsunaga Elementary School	95.02762431
Beall Elementary	94.82758621
Travilah Elementary	94.80519481
Potomac Elementary	94.44444444
Greenwood Elementary	94.31818182
Stone Mill Elementary	94.17475728
Stonegate Elementary	94.11764706
Lakewood Elementary	93.87755102
Garrett Park Elementary	93.57798165
Ashburton Elementary	93.38842975
Ronald A. McNair Elementary	93.38235294
Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary	93.33333333
Wood Acres Elementary	93.2885906
Forest Knolls Elementary	93.06930693
Wheaton Woods Elementary	92.95774648
Lois P. Rockwell Elementary	92.68292683
Beverly Farms Elementary	92.38095238
Washington Grove Elementary	92.30769231
North Chevy Chase Elementary	92.22222222
Poolesville Elementary	92.06349206
Fallsmead Elementary	92
Woodfield Elementary	91.52542373
Goshen Elementary	91.4893617
Rock Creek Forest Elementary	91.46341463
Luxmanor Elementary	91.42857143
William Tyler Page Elementary	91.22807018
Bethesda Elementary	91.01123596
Candlewood Elementary	90.32258065
Germantown Elementary	90.24390244
Jones Lane Elementary	90.2173913
Little Bennett Elementary	90.11627907
Oakland Terrace Elementary	90
Viers Mill Elementary	89.88764045
Cloverly Elementary	89.70588235
Sequoyah Elementary	89.47368421
Burnt Mills Elementary	89.41176471
Damascus Elementary	89.36170213
Olney Elementary	88.7755102
Woodlin Elementary	88.67924528
Rock Creek Valley Elementary	88.52459016
Monocacy Elementary	88.46153846
Laytonsville Elementary	87.80487805
Maryvale Elementary	87.65432099
Strawberry Knoll Elementary	87.34177215
Burning Tree Elementary	87.32394366
William B. Gibbs, Jr.	86.92307692
Highland View Elementary	86.76470588
Sherwood Elementary	86.66666667
Rosemont Elementary	86.30136986
Clearspring Elementary	86.07594937
Piney Branch Elementary	85.95505618
Brooke Grove Elementary	85.71428571
Flower Valley Elementary	85.52631579
East Silver Spring Elementary	85.18518519
Flora M. Singer Elementary School	84.84848485
Rock View Elementary	84.69387755
Ritchie Park Elementary	84.15841584
Fairland Elementary	83.87096774
Judith A. Resnik Elementary	83.82352941
Burtonsville Elementary	83.60655738
Clarksburg Elementary	83.33333333
Belmont Elementary	82.35294118
Fox Chapel Elementary	82.14285714
Jackson Road Elementary	81.91489362
Lake Seneca Elementary	81.63265306
S. Christa McAuliffe Elementary	80.41237113
Waters Landing Elementary	80.17241379
Sargent Shriver Elementary	80
Great Seneca Creek Elementary	79.6875
Pine Crest Elementary	79.66101695
DuFief Elementary	78.57142857
Fields Road Elementary	78.46153846
Highland Elementary	78.37837838
Sligo Creek Elementary	78.02197802
Brookhaven Elementary	77.77777778
Meadow Hall Elementary	76.5625
Rolling Terrace Elementary	76.36363636
Glen Haven Elementary	76.31578947
Cannon Road Elementary	76.27118644
Georgian Forest Elementary	75.90361446
Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary	75.6097561
Summit Hall Elementary	75.55555556
Brown Station Elementary	74.66666667
Stedwick Elementary	74.41860465
South Lake Elementary	73.27586207
Greencastle Elementary	73.1092437
Glenallan Elementary	72.36842105
Dr. Sally K. Ride Elementary	71.11111111
Cresthaven Elementary	71.08433735
Gaithersburg Elementary	70.79646018
Strathmore Elementary	70.42253521
Watkins Mill Elementary	70.09345794
Whetstone Elementary	69.23076923
Captain James E. Daly Elementary	68.96551724
Oak View Elementary	68.80733945
Kemp Mill Elementary	68.75
Harmony Hills Elementary	68.04123711
Flower Hill Elementary	68
Twinbrook Elementary	67.94871795
Galway Elementary	67.15328467
Mill Creek Towne Elementary	66.66666667
Broad Acres Elementary	66.66666667
Arcola Elementary	66.03773585
Weller Road Elementary	60.46511628