Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Data from 2009 reveals that students have long struggled with final exams in MCPS math courses.
Few Montgomery County Public Schools students enrolled in high school math courses made high marks on final exams last semester, data released by the school district last week showed. In one class, Bridge to Algebra 2, less than 1 percent made an "A" on the final exam. (See data, above, that details the distribution of final exam grades "A" through "E" for eight math courses last semester.) School officials were prompted to release student math grades after members of the county school board grilled Superintendent Joshua Starr about last semester's final exam grades. Media outlets reported earlier this month that the majority of students in high school math—Algebra, Algebra 2, Geometry and Precalculus—failed their final exams. Starr …
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The systemwide proposal to provide more central office support to struggling schools begins with a 10-school pilot, according to county schools officials.
Ten schools were picked to help pilot a new program from Montgomery County Public Schools that will provide an extra layer of central office support to under-performing schools. Officials culled various data to determine the schools that needed help, including key measures at certain grade levels, like whether students are reading as they should by 3rd grade and whether 5th and 8th graders have the reading and math skills that prepare them for the next level. The full list of schools: "The 10 Innovation Schools have already shown a commitment to school improvement and have the staff and leadership in place to accelerate that progress," Superintendent Joshua Starr said in a statement. "These schools will serve as a model for how …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Once again, Bethesda high schools are included in a national ranking of top high schools.
Montgomery County Public Schools have done it again—landing in top spots in a national ranking. This time, the ranking is the third annual list of America's Best High Schools, published by Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Walt Whitman High School, Walter Johnson High School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School came out as the third-, fourth- and fifth-best schools, respectively, in the county. Seventeen of the county's public high schools made it on this list, which includes the nation's top 2,000 high schools—less than 10 percent of all the high schools in the country. And, the top six high schools in Maryland are all MCPS schools, according to a school system statement. The 17 county schools (with their national rankings in parentheses) on …
Monday, May 6, 2013
A review of test scores for algebra, geometry, algebra II and precalculus showed that a majority of students failed the final exam last year, local news outlets reported.
More than half of high school students in Montgomery County Public Schools didn't pass last semester's math finals, according to reports in The Examiner newspaper and WAMU.org. Data from MCPS, released after parents at Rockville High began anecdotally comparing test scores, according to WAMU, show that students across the system failed bedrock mathematics course finals—algebra and algebra II, geometry and precalculus. Course Algebra Algebra II Geometry Precalculus Final Exam Failure (%) 61 57 62 48 Those percentages add up to about 11,000 students not passing final math exams out of 19,000 who took the exams, Examiner reported. Dana Tofig, spokesman for MCPS, said the system is forming a task force to investigate the high rate of failures…
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Learn when each Montgomery County public high school will hold its graduation ceremony.
Montgomery County Public Schools on Thursday tweeted a link to a schedule of high school graduations this spring. All ceremonies at DAR Costitution Hall in Washington, D.C. will be streamed online, the school system's website said. The graduations season begins with a ceremony for the school system's Alternative Programs on May 24 and wraps up with June 12 with ceremonies for Watkins Mill High School, the Longview School and the Gateway to College program. Click here to read the full schedule on the MCPS website.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Unseasonably warm temperatures lead to questions about school air conditioning.
On Wednesday, several Magruder High School students were overcome by the heat. So, it's no wonder MCPS has been getting questions about the process of changing over from heat to air conditioning in the schools. MCPS posted on its website an explantion of the conversion process.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Unseasonably warm temperatures lead to heat-related health issues for students and questions about school air conditioning.
On Wednesday, several Magruder High School students were overcome by the heat. No wonder MCPS has been getting questions about the process of changing over from heat to air conditioning in the schools. MCPS posted on its website an explanation of the conversion process.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr said he is disappointed in the County Executive's budget plan.
The amount of aid for county schools proposed by Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett in his fiscal 2014 county budget plan falls short of what's needed, Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr said Friday. Leggett's plan calls for a schools budget of $2.23 billion—an increase of $65.8 million, or 3 percent more than the budget approved for the current school year. "The County Executive's recommendation would fund 100 percent of the [school board]'s request," according to Leggett's budget proposal. Click here to read more on Leggett's fiscal 2014 budget plan and here to hear the County Executive discuss the proposal. The proposal is a slight increase in spending for MCPS, to the level required by the state's …
Sunday, March 10, 2013
A rundown of what MCPS is serving to students this week.
What's for lunch? This week's menu for Montgomery County Public Schools' elementary school cafeterias is listed below. Visit the full menu for calorie information. The menu for Head Start and pre-kindergarten students varies slightly from the elementary school menu. Visit the MCPS website for middle school lunch, high school lunch and middle and high school breakfast offerings.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Winter storm closes federal and county offices.
Schools and government offices are closed Wednesday, as the first significant snow storm in two years made its way across the region. Montgomery County Public Schools and their administrative offices are closed and all activities in school buildings are canceled, the school system announced. Federal government offices in the Washington, D.C., area will be closed and non-emergency federal employees will be granted excused absences, the Office of Personnel Management said on its website. Montgomery County goverment offices are closed. "Essential personnel should report to work," the county's website said. Montgomery College is closed and testing deadlines will be adjusted by one day, the college's website said. The Universities at Shady …
Alan Cook
11:09 am on Tuesday, May 7, 2013
National math test scores continue to be disappointing. This poor trend persists in spite of new texts, standardized tests with attached implied threats, or laptops in the class. At some point, maybe we should admit that math, as it is taught currently and in the recent past, seems irrelevant to a large percentage of grade school kids. Why blame a sixth grade student or teacher trapped by … more ›