Posts tagged Public Schools
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With more choice, DC families are unlinking their housing and school decisions
In a new report from the DC Policy Center, school-aged populations and school enrollment in the District’s neighborhoods are ‘decoupling.’ In other words, the availability in public school choice in the District has increased the number of children that attend a school in their neighborhood. Keep reading…
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Prince George’s sends fewer students to Maryland’s flagship university than other counties. Why?
Although the state's flagship university, the University of Maryland, College Park, is located in Prince George's County, the county sends significantly fewer students as a fraction of its population to UMCP than other area counties do. Keep reading…
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Can we close the gap in Montgomery’s schools?
As Montgomery County’s public schools grow more diverse, the achievement gap between rich and poor students, and the schools they attend, grows wider. In response, a new group of parents, neighbors, and community leaders has come together to fight for a more equitable school system. Montgomery County Public Schools is one of the best school systems in the nation. But the isolation… Keep reading…
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Maryland test scores drop. Is the Common Core responsible?
Test scores in Maryland have dropped, apparently because instruction is now based on the new Common Core standards while the tests are still tied to the old curriculum. But would the results have been any better if the tests had been aligned to the new standards? Standardized test scores for elementary and middle-school students in almost every Maryland county dropped this past… Keep reading…
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Happiness isn’t the best measure of student progress
Citing studies that show a connection between happiness and student performance, Montgomery County Public Schools are surveying students and staff on how hopeful and engaged they are. But it may not be a good measure of a school’s quality. MCPS hired national polling firm Gallup to administer the surveys, which cost $900,000 for 3 years of work and can be found online. Keep reading…
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Integration will keep MoCo public schools competitive
Over the past week, we’ve looked at how demographic changes and flight are making Montgomery County Public Schools a segregated system. Today, let’s talk about ways to fix it. I started working on this series last year, when my brother began looking at Northeast Consortium high schools to attend this fall. I’m a proud product of MCPS and Blake High School, but it’s clear to me that… Keep reading…
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Montgomery schools super tries closing achievement gap
Last week, we talked about how de facto segregation has made Montgomery County Public Schools a system of haves and have-nots, and at how watered-down attempts at integration made it worse. But for superintendent Joshua Starr, the real answer is making teachers better at teaching and students better at learning. “I could come up with ways of mixing and matching kids from different… Keep reading…
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Montgomery’s experiment with school choice really isn’t
Each fall, thousands of 8th graders in Montgomery County participate in Maryland’s oldest experiment in school choice, the Northeast and Downcounty consortia. Intended to prevent the school system’s growing segregation, the consortia’s 8 schools are not only more isolated than before, but academic performance has suffered. Keep reading…
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Bill Gates is listening to teachers on evaluations
Recently, Bill Gates published an op-ed in the Washington Post, “A fairer way to evaluate teachers.” Skeptically, I clicked the link. I wasn’t sure if I would read the typical education reform buzzwords with little depth to the issue, or if Gates would actually move the debate forward. Sure, the title infers that he wants us to fairly evaluate teachers,… Keep reading…