Montgomery County school officials aren’t evaluating whether their $25.7 million alternative-education programs for at-risk students actually help students graduate from high school or go to college, according to a report from the county’s Office of Legislative Oversight.
The school system is also excluding the students from career and technical education programs, even though they would benefit from these options the most, the report says.
On Monday, the County Council’s Education Committee plans to meet with staff from Montgomery County Public Schools and Montgomery College, along with other county officials to hash out these gaps.
More than 13,000 students are enrolled in programs geared toward dropout prevention, featuring smaller classes, individualized instruction and parent engagement. Most fail their traditional classes for a variety of social, emotional and behavioral problems, while some are in alternative settings in lieu of expulsion for serious offenses like drugs and violence.
MCPS has made progress with the approximately 200 students who attend special schools, like Hadley Farms Middle School and Needwood Academy High School Alternative Program, rather than programs within their own schools: 70 percent of students have increased their attendance after one quarter, and half of students are meeting the exit criteria to return to their home schools after one year.
But that’s where the tracking ends. “MCPS has not evaluated how well students do when they return back to their comprehensive school, whether they graduate, or whether they are prepared for college or work once they leave MCPS,” according to the county report, which culled interviews with 17 school employees.
The county also suggests that MCPS is cutting off at-risk students from career and technical programs, because students are typically required to complete their core-subject graduation requirements before signing up. This can “create a vacuum for such students who may benefit from the hands-on approaches… Greater and/or earlier [career and technical education] course taking may improve the willingness of at-risk students to engage and persist in high school rather than drop out.”
Superintendent Joshua Starr disputed some of the report’s conclusions, including on vocational education. “Students are not excluded from CTE programs because they are struggling academically; however, the reality for many of our students who fall behind is that they must take specific courses for credit toward graduation,” Starr said in a letter to Elaine Bonner-Tompkins, the county’s senior legislative analyst.
MCPS allows certain special-needs students and Spanish-speaking students to take career and technical courses without taking graduation credits first, but that’s because these students are planning to earn a certificate, not a diploma, Starr said.
