By Adam Pagnucco.
MCPS has been regarded as one of the best school systems in Maryland, and much of the nation, for a long time. But shocking stats on college and career readiness presented to the county council this week may call that into question.
On April 3, the council’s Education and Culture Committee is due to review college and career readiness (CCR) measures prepared by MCPS. CCR is one of the major topics addressed by the state’s Blueprint for Maryland’s Future program, which has established a set of interim measures for school districts. Montgomery College also has a set of CCR measures established to comply with the Blueprint.
The slide below is MCPS’s report on interim CCR measures for tenth graders.
For all 10th graders, 53% met the interim measures on English language arts, 10% met them on math and 9% met them on both. That’s right, folks – NINE PERCENT.
Now to the demographic subgroups. One-third or less of Latino, Emergent Multilingual Learner and Special Education 10th graders met the interim measures on English. Five percent or less of Black, Latino, Emergent Multilingual Learner, Special Education and FARMS (free and reduced price meals) 10th graders met the interim measures on math. And Asian 10th graders were the only subgroup to record at least one-quarter of 10th graders meeting interim measures on both English and math.
The demographic gaps are unsurprising. Many school systems all across the nation have them. What is surprising is the low performance among so many subgroups, especially on math.
To be fair, these are 10th graders – students who have two more years to go in school. The chart below shows performance on both Blueprint interim CCR measures and Montgomery College’s CCR measures for all students.
MCPS does better among 12th graders. Roughly 80% or more meet Montgomery College’s measures. On the Blueprint interim measures, 62% meet them for English Language Arts and 40% meet them for math. This chart does not have demographic breakouts. Also noteworthy is that the above slide includes “all diploma bound 12th graders,” implying that it excludes drop-outs. Since MCPS’s graduation rate is roughly 90%, if all students are included, the above percentages would drop.
It would be interesting to have historic data on these measures, but here’s the problem – the Blueprint program was passed three years ago and these measures are new. They’re also still in development, so they could change. This is at best a snapshot of where MCPS stands now. And it’s not a pretty snapshot. MCPS recognizes this and challenges the validity of the Blueprint interim measures, openly stating, “The data is not an accurate indicator of the CCR status of our students.”
Whatever becomes of MCPS’s protests, let’s put this into perspective. This is MCPS, folks – one of the better-funded school systems in Maryland (or anywhere else) and a critical institution for Montgomery County. County taxpayers are paying almost $13,000 per student with $7,000 more per student coming from the state. In return for that money, a significant number of MCPS students – and perhaps a majority among some subgroups – are not ready for careers or college when they leave the system.
We should be doing better than this.