Maryland recently changed the design of its school “report cards” to comply with the state’s new school improvement plan under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Unlike the old system, which primarily used test scores under the No Child Left Behind Act, the new system adds new performance measures for schools. These factors include graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, access to a well-rounded curriculum, progress in achieving English language proficiency, and college readiness.
Maryland’s report card, unveiled Dec. 4, surprised Walt Whitman High School with a score of four out of five stars. Whitman, which in recent years has been ranked as one of Maryland’s top high schools, scored just one percentage point short of five stars with a 74 percent.
Out of all of the categories, Whitman struggled the most with proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA), scoring 25.7 percent. A 79.7 percent score in chronic absenteeism (when a student is absent for 10 or more days of school) was also a factor in Whitman’s results.
Montgomery County had the highest number of five star-scoring schools in the state, while Baltimore County had the highest number of one star-scoring schools. Most high schools in the county scored four or five stars, but not all. Col. Zadok Magruder, Watkins Mill, Albert Einstein, Northwood, Wheaton, John F. Kennedy and Seneca Valley all scored three stars.
All other schools in the Whitman cluster received five stars, as did the other traditionally high-performing high schools in Montgomery County: Thomas Wootton, Walter Johnson, and Winston Churchill high schools. Seven of the nine schools in the Walter Johnson cluster scored five stars, while all seven schools in the Winston Churchill cluster scored five stars. Only 17 percent of Maryland schools received five stars.
Montgomery County will have to wait and see if Whitman’s performance is an isolated event or the start of a new pattern.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Shannon Engel of Walter Johnson High School