While 93.6% of Montgomery County’s 202 public schools serving kindergarten through grade 12 scored ratings of three or more stars out of five on an annual state report card, the district’s overall performance was “disappointingly flat,” Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) officials said Tuesday in a statement.
The state education department’s star ratings for its 2024 Maryland Report Card are based on multiple indicators including non-academic measures. Schools earn stars based on the percentage of points earned across the indicators.
According to a statement from the state, school ratings for the 2023-2024 school year across the state increased overall when compared to the 2022-2023 school year. The results showed that 41% of schools in Maryland earned four or five stars, and 83% of schools in Maryland received three or more stars.
In Montgomery County, 50% of the 202 schools earned a four- or five-star rating. However, MCPS said in its Tuesday statement that the number of schools that earned three stars or higher increased by just 0.8% since the 2022-2023 school year.
Additionally, many areas of student performance, including academic achievement and progress in achieving English language proficiency, didn’t earn enough points to meet the annual targets, according to the district’s report card.
For elementary and middle schools, indicators used to calculate the ratings include academic achievement, academic progress, progress in achieving English language proficiency and school quality and student success.
High school indicators include academic achievement, graduation rate, progress in achieving English language proficiency, readiness for postsecondary success and school quality and student success.
According to its Tuesday statement, the district made changes this school year to improve student performance, including implementing a new literacy curriculum, continuing to combat chronic absenteeism, focusing on physical and emotional safety and implementing Superintendent Thomas Taylor’s “school-focused support framework.”
How MCPS schools performed
The 2023-2024 overall data for elementary, middle and high schools include whether the schools met the state’s annual targets in academic achievement and achieving English language proficiency as well as in other areas. It also notes schools’ performance in all indicators based on grade level.
According to the overall data, all elementary schools didn’t improve year over year in academic achievement or earn enough points to meet the state’s annual target, though the schools did meet the annual target for progress in achieving English language proficiency. Elementary schools overall also didn’t improve year over year in the areas of achieving English language proficiency and academic progress.
Overall data for middle schools showed that schools didn’t meet annual targets for academic achievement — although improvements occurred — and progress in achieving English language proficiency. These schools also improved in other areas, such as academic progress, school quality and student success.
For high schools, overall performance data showed that the only indicator that improved was readiness for post-secondary success. Overall, high schools didn’t meet annual targets for academic achievement, graduation rate and progress in achieving English language proficiency.
According to districtwide data, MCPS didn’t earn enough points to meet the annual target for the percentage of students at all grade levels that are proficient in math, though the district did show improvement. Overall, the district met the annual target and also improved in the percentage of students that are proficient in English language arts, according to the report card website.
