‘A whole system failure’: Test scores indicate half of MCPS third-graders can’t read at grade level

Advocates fear more students will fall behind during virtual instruction
By Caitlynn Peetz, Bethesda Magazine. for the whole story go here.

In Montgomery County, half of the approximately 23,400 third-graders ended the 2018-19 school year unable to read at or above grade level, according to the results of a state assessment obtained by Bethesda Beat. Advocates fear that while children learn from home due to COVID-19, missing close to a year of face-to-face instruction, more children will fall through the cracks.

“We do run the risk that the learning loss students experience now will be the enduring legacy of this pandemic,” said Ralph Smith, director of The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a national advocacy group. “Up to this point, there has been a significant, whole system failure and … the impact of the pandemic could cause a generation of students to suffer severe lifelong consequences.”

"...superintendent has declined to meet with us..."

Examiner Letter:  Despite raises, MontCo's achievement gap persists

Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr recently said he wants to focus on the achievement gap and community engagement.Last spring, he said his record budget request was "bare bones" and then gave all teachers two pay raises. Before that, our teachers were paid 15 to 20 percent more than Howard and Fairfax County teachers, but this hasn't bought us superior academic performance.

The money for raises went disproportionately to teachers in wealthier (green zone) schools, where our school-by-school analysis showed there is no correlation between pay and performance.Teachers in our higher-poverty (red zone) schools are paid on average 4 percent less.

Since the red zone is where the achievement gap lives, why don't we pay red zone teachers more for taking career risks to tackle the achievement gap?Wouldn't this attract the best principals and teachers to schools that need the most help?Why doesn't the strategic plan detail intervention strategies and link to the budget?

Now what? Can we expect innovative academic strategies? As for community engagement, the superintendent has declined to meet with us.

Gordie Brenne

Board member, Montgomery County Taxpayers League, Silver Spring

Breaking news: MCPS CLOSES ACHIEVEMENT GAP

If you live in Montgomery County, Maryland, you might not be aware of what the rest of the USA is told about Montgomery County's public school system.

Here is a Boston news article with a quote that MCPS is the only school district in the USA to have closed the achievement gap.

The marketing of the MCPS "brand" has been successful! The $10 million communications department budget paid off. (Yes, the "branding" of MCPS has been the topic of discussion at a number of Board of Education meetings.)

Is this our reality?

...“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:
Newton picks new school superintendent - Newton - Your Town - Boston.com

...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.’’..

The Reading Gap and MCPS

FARMS Gap Closure

MCPS has asserted that the reduction in the Reading Gap is one of its primary accomplishments. This graphic, courtesy the Maryland State Department of Education, compares the percentage reduction in the "gap" accomplished by the various school systems in the state.

Despite topping the state in spending on educating our children, MCPS is not at the top in closing the Reading Gap.

Md. suburban students score slightly higher | Washington Examiner

Md. suburban students score slightly higher | Washington Examiner

Students in the Maryland suburbs showed slight improvements on the most recent round of standardized tests, but persistent pockets of mediocre performance remained.

In Montgomery County, 91 percent of students in third through fifth grade scored "proficient" or "advanced" on the reading portion of the Maryland Standardized Assessment, commonly called the MSA. About 88 percent of the students scored proficient or higher on the math portion.

Those numbers are up significantly from 2003. But compared with 2007, fewer fourth-graders scored proficient in reading, and fewer fifth-graders scored proficient in math....

...Among third-graders, 77 percent of black students scored proficient or better in math, compared with 95 percent of Asian students. In eighth-grade reading, 78 percent of Hispanic students scored proficient or above, compared with 96 percent of white students...