More than half of the public high schools in Montgomery County fell in the star ratings in the most recent school year, according to the latest Maryland State Report Card – designed by the Maryland State Department of Education to measure school progress, success and improvement areas.
The report also showed slight improvements in elementary and middle schools.
According to MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram, 91% of MCPS schools scored 3 or higher on the report card’s five-star rating for the 2022-2023 school year. Cram called the scorings an achievement and “a testament to the dedication and hard work of our educators, administrators and students.”
The 2022-23 school year is the fourth year that the state has employed the School Report Card and star rating system. In the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, the state Education Department did not issue star ratings. According to a news release, the U.S. Department of Education granted a one-year waiver to the system for the 2021-2022 school year due to the pandemic, which included adjustments to measures of student progress and chronic absenteeism.
MCPS high school results
An overall look at MCPS’ 25 high schools shows that they did not reach annual targets or see improvements in performance indicators, and more than half lost one star in their ratings.
The Maryland Report Card results show that just three (12%) of MCPS high schools—Poolesville High School, Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda—maintained their five-star ratings from the previous year. In the 2021-2022 school year, six high schools received five-star ratings.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, Walter Johnson High School and Winston Churchill High School all fell from five-star ratings to four stars after the 2022-2023 school year.
In the 2022-2023 school year, 24% of MCPS high schools earned a four-star rating and 64% earned a three-star rating. Comparatively, in the 2021-2022 school year 24% of schools had five stars, 52% had four stars and 24% earned three-star ratings.
Across the board, 52% of MCPS high schools saw a reduction of one star from the previous school year, while 48% retained their ratings. No high schools earned an additional star(s) and just eight schools overall gained a star.
Montgomery County is not alone in the decline. High schools in Prince George’s County failed to hit annual targets and did not reach any improvements to the report card categories. Additionally, four PGCPS high schools lost a star, and none gained a star either. Additionally, there was a statewide decrease in the number of schools that received the five-star status.
Cram said that chronic absenteeism was a significant driving force in schools at all levels moving down in their star ratings.
“Chronic absenteeism is a programmatic focus for the district and is the reason for the district’s Chronic Absenteeism Action Plan put in place this past summer,” Cram stated in an email.
Since the implementation of the action plan, the district has seen a slight decrease in chronic absenteeism systemwide. In November, 7News reported that school officials shared an update on chronic truancy in the district. In the first marking period of the 2023-2024 school year, chronic absenteeism hovered at 21.4% districtwide. In the previous school year, chronic absenteeism was measured at 26.2%.
Cram stated there are limitations to the method in which the state Education Department rates schools, such as relying “on a single data point for measuring academic achievement and growth” like the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics assessments.
“These scores provide an end-of-course view of students’ performance and progress,” he wrote.
Cram added that MCPS uses an Evidence of Learning and Equity Accountability Model to measure student progress, “to provide a more detailed and focused perspective on school success.” He wrote that the approach uses “multiple and frequent measures of students’ progress” and “places a special emphasis on reducing and eliminating disparities in student achievement.”
At this time, MCPS is tasked with maintaining improvements to its early literacy rates, which were seen this fall, and improving chronic absenteeism, especially among student groups. Cram did not respond to questions about how the district is looking to improve ratings across the board for high schools.
How the State Department of Education rates schools
All schools are scored by the state Education Department in three ways: total earned points percent, star ratings and a percentile rank in comparison to other schools in the state. The final score is intended to show educators where there are opportunities for improvement and the strengths of an individual school, according to the Education Department.
In addition, the report card provides information about whether a school district or individual school reached its annual targets or made improvements to an indicator. It also reports on academic achievement and graduation rates for racial and ethnic groups as well as for special education students, English learners and students facing poverty.
To check out how your student’s school performed in the last school year, visit the schools list for MCPS. More information about the report card can be found at this link.
Elementary and middle school ratings are based on a series of indicators:
- Academic achievement
- Academic progress
- Progress in achieving English language proficiency
- School quality and student success.
High school ratings are based on five indicators:
- Academic achievement
- Graduation rate
- Progress in achieving English language proficiency
- Readiness for postsecondary success
- School quality and student success
The annual report card was released on Dec. 13, and the calculations of school ratings for the 2022-2023 school year include three changes from the prior year: new eighth-grade social studies assessments included in the middle school Academic Progress indicator; the elementary and middle school Academic Growth measure; and chronic absenteeism returning to pre-pandemic methods of calculation.
“This is a new baseline year for Maryland, in terms of where we are and where we want to be,” Interim State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Carey Wright said in a statement. “Due to the difference in calculating results between the two school years, we cannot make perfect comparisons. However, we celebrate those districts and schools that showed success and we will continue to support those that faced challenges.”