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 …
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.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Catch up on school news from this week.
What's been going on with Montgomery County Public Schools this week? Here are a few education headlines you might've missed: Achievement Gap Grows Wider in Some Areas MCPS Superintendent Joshua P. Starr and other county officials have repeatedly emphasized their goal of narrowing the achievement gap that separates white and Asian students from black and Hispanic students. But a 130-page report released this week found that the gap in scores for Advanced Placement exams, SAT tests and state-level math exams has actually grown wider for MCPS students, The Washington Post reported. Patch education blogger Joseph Hawkins predicted this outcome in his analysis of the county's efforts to close the achievement gap. Here's what he wrote in …
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 …
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 …
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Parent and civic groups to take a 'chapter-by-chapter' look at the $2.2 billion proposal.
With the Montgomery County School Board’s budget hearings complete, parent and civics groups are hosting their own forum on the proposed budget for the 2013-2014 school year. The forum, dubbed a “Book Club Budgetpalooza”—a name borrowing from the “book club” discussions hosted by MCPS Superintendent Joshua P. Starr and calling to mind the alternative rock festival founded by Perry Farrell—will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the first floor meeting room of Rockville Memorial Library, at 21 Maryland Ave. in Rockville Town Square. It is hosted by the Montgomery County Civic Federation, the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD, and the Montgomery County Taxpayers League. “We will go chapter by chapter through the proposed MCPS FY14 …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
MCPS, Montgomery College and USG partner to support at-risk students in college quests.
Officials from the county’s public schools and colleges recently met to discuss how best to ensure success for at-risk students from kindergarten through college, The Gazette reported. About 50 members of the boards of Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery College and the Universities at Shady Grove met for two hours at USG in Rockville Jan. 11, The Gazette reported. Officials discussed Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success, a partnership, announced in September, between MCPS, Montgomery College and USG. The goal of program is to identify student populations underrepresented in higher education—African-American, Hispanic and low-income students and those whose parents didn’t go to college—and offer “comprehensive …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr is critical of the purpose of the index.
Montgomery County's public schools fared well in the state's most recently released School Progress Index—a new accountability measure whose purpose has been criticized by Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr. The School Progress Index—which uses a formula, based mostly on state test scores, to determine how schools are progressing toward academic goals—was released on Monday. Sixty-four percent of the county's public schools made it into the top two (of five) strands, the two strands requiring the least amount of monitoring and support, according to a county schools statement. Overall, the county school system received an index score of 1.014. A score of 1.0 or higher means that the school or school system has met…
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Superintendent remains confident that he can win over the County Council.
Superintendent remains confident that he can win over the County Council.
Superintendent Joshua P. Starr’s proposed $2.2 billion fiscal 2014 budget for Montgomery County schools could face a familiar challenge—how to comply with a state law on school funding minimums while winning approval from a County Council determined to rein in spending on schools. Starr's spending plan, unveiled Tuesday, is $10 million—less than half a percent—above the funding floor mandated by the state’s maintenance of effort law, which requires counties’ per-pupil spending to remain the same or increase from year to year. But the half percent increase could have major implications. County school budgets that dip below the funding level can have the difference withheld by the state comptroller when passing through income tax revenues to…
Barbara
4:08 pm on Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Why they need Math? As long as they reside in Montgomery County they'll get everything for free. It is a free state, right? more ›