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Montgomery County Public Schools parents and staff are most concerned about special education services and the persistent achievement gap between white and minority students, according to a report from the school system. Superintendent Joshua Starr, now with a semester under his belt, heard about these concerns during 17 events held throughout the fall with more than 1,800 members of the community and school staff. He’s planning to hold forums and begin studies into these issues in the coming months.
In “The Listen and Learn Report,” Starr details parent and staff concerns about the academic performance of students, particularly among Hispanic and black students, students from low-income families, and students receiving English for Speakers of Other Languages services.
On the 2011 Advanced Placement exams, 79 percent of tests taken by white students received a passing score, compared with 55 percent of those taken by Hispanic students and 46 percent of tests taken by black students. Though Montgomery’s gap is slimmer than Maryland’s or the nation’s, parents were troubled by similar differences on state exams and the SAT.
“What we’re doing internally right now is reorienting my team’s work to improve instruction for every child, with a clear need to go deeper school by school,” Starr told The Washington Examiner. He plans to analyze the variation in the achievement gap at each school before taking next steps.
Starr said the overarching theme of his $2.128 billion budget request — a 2 percent increase and the smallest funding increase request in the past 12 years — was using current resources more efficiently.
To that end, Starr pledged to hold a districtwide forum on special education in the spring semester, atop parents’ concerns that special needs students — about 12 percent of the school system — were receiving services that varied by school. Some parents felt their children should take more general education classes, while others requested more specialized instruction.
Special education for each kindergarten student costs more than $16,000, nearly $2,000 more than the cost for the average student.
Another concern was the implementation of Curriculum 2.0, an integrated learning approach adopted by kindergarten and first-grade teachers, as well as some second-grade teachers, this school year.
“I think there’s not enough information for parents, or as much as parents would like,” said Ted Willard, chairman of the county PTA’s curriculum committee, noting that parents haven’t seen the curriculum and are concerned about teachers’ preparedness to use it. “MCPS has generic plans to open a parent portal eventually, but that hasn’t been done.”
Starr said professional development for teachers is an area he will “directly address” in months ahead.
“We’ve held down the fort for a long time, and now we have to work on what’s next,” he said.
