Montgomery County Public Schools officials are awaiting the release of the Maryland state report cards in early December, but are firm in their belief the report only captures a glimpse of a school district’s success.
State report cards are scheduled to be released by the Maryland Department of Education on Dec. 4, and measure a school district’s success based on factors such as access to curriculum, absenteeism rates and standardized test scores. Based on those factors, the report assigns each school a rating ranging from one to five stars.
State report cards were not released from 2015 to 2018, due to changes that had to be made after former president Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, replacing the No Child Left Behind Act. The Every Student Succeeds Act is the main federal law governing general education for kindergarten through grade 12.
This year the report will not use students’ eligibility for free and reduced school lunches as a standard to identify them as living in poverty, which MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith said could slightly impact MCPS’ rating because nearly 40 percent of the school district’s students utilize reduced price lunch plans.
While the report is useful in helping shape the future of state education systems, Smith said it doesn’t capture the “whole picture” of how a district is performing.
“There are different ways to measure student success, and the state report card is just one of those,” Smith said at a press conference earlier this month. “It’s not bad, but it’s just one, and it’s just one important tool for schools as they think about how to reach every student.”
Janet Wilson, associate superintendent in the MCPS Office of Shared Accountability, agreed with Smith at the press conference, saying the state education department is required to use data that is easily comparable between all Maryland school districts when compiling the state report card, which leaves a limited number of factors that can be considered.
According to Wilson, this year’s report card will look at two key components: 65 percent of the evaluation is dedicated to academic indicators such as progress among English for Speakers of Other Languages students and all students’ academic achievement and progress; and 35 percent examines school quality and student success indicators based on the results of a survey deployed to students last year.
“We have found over the past years that … the content of the report card, because it is so far removed from individual students, shows a limited view into the school improvement planning process,” Wilson said.
MCPS principals are expected to receive information from the school district this week about the report card and how to explain results to their school communities.
