Montgomery County schools’ new blueprint for college readiness has some parents worried that both the top learners and those most struggling will suffer.
The plan, introduced earlier this year to much fanfare in the county, is called Seven Keys to College Readiness, and lists goals from passing Algebra II by the end of 11th grade to a score of 1650 on the SAT, or slightly better than the national average of about 1500.
If students can achieve those goals and several others, they will be prepared to begin college-level work, the district argues. The plan isn’t designed to change curriculum, but to inform parents and students of the necessary steps.
But the standards are too low for would-be high performers, according to Fred Stichnoth, a parent advocate for gifted and talented students.
The district “aligns its effort at the cusp of college-readiness,” Stichnoth wrote in a paper addressing the topic, adding that those who will suffer the most are high-potential students in lower-income families or schools. They would be the ones lost in efforts to enroll more students at midlevel colleges.
On the other end of the spectrum, some parents are concerned that the standards are too rigid for the county’s students for whom college is not the realistic next step.
Gordie Brenne, a parent at Kensington’s Albert Einstein High School, said the Seven Keys make no allowance for nearly half of the schools’ freshmen who, based on estimates, will fail to graduate.
Brenne wrote a letter to Superintendent Jerry Weast arguing that the studies used to create the Seven Keys were biased toward students most likely to attend college anyway. And the necessity of Algebra II, he said, was not concluded in any of the studies.
Brenne and parents like him worry that initiatives that have worked for less successful students will be crowded out by the Seven Keys approach.
“We need to have room for more experiments, to engage our kids in more novel ways,” Brenne said.
According to the school system, concerns from parents like Stichnoth and Brenne are overblown.
“The Seven Keys are designed to give our students more options, not fewer,” spokesman Chris Cram said. At a time when most jobs require some level of college, “it’s incumbent upon us to ensure that our students are prepared for whatever path they choose to follow.”
