Montgomery County students’ gains in math and reading are slowing, leaving some schools officials to question if the modest improvements are enough to reach the system’s long-term goals. Just 11 percent of middle school students scored below proficiency on the Maryland School Assessment reading exam, down from 11.8 percent in 2009.
But the rate of improvement is slowing from past years: From 2004 to 2008, these students’ ratings climbed an average of 2.75 percentage points each year, but this year, the pace slowed to 0.8 points.
In math, students increased “basic” performance to “proficient” and “advanced” at a rate of 3.8 percentage points each year from 2004 to 2008, but improved only 1.1 points last spring, so that 21.2 percent fell in the “basic” range last spring, down from 22.3 percent in 2009.
“I absolutely see and congratulate the upward trajectory. … My question is in understanding whether our rate of progress is enough to keep hitting our higher expectations,” said Shirley Brandman, vice president of the school board.
“I know it gets harder as we go forward” to create increases, she acknowledged, but “We probably need some rate of progress for year after year to get to the end goal.”
Superintendent Jerry Weast blamed the slower growth on older students moving into the schools. “You’ve gained 6,300 students [in three years], and they’re not coming in just in kindergarten. They’re coming in all the way up or down the line, and some of them are coming from places that didn’t prepare them very well.”
Weast called the 6,300 students “the equivalent of getting the Quince Orchard cluster coming in.”
“I’m pleased they’re still making progress,” said Weast, adding he was “curious as to what we can do to accelerate that without any money.”
The district’s budget has been cut $97 million in two years, shedding staff and pay raises with it. But its remaining $2.1 billion accounts for 57 percent of the county’s budget, and the County Council has said the schools won’t get more money.
Renee Foose, associate superintendent in the Office of Shared Accountability, said her department will continue to “really get a handle on this target that’s constantly moving and eluding us. I will say there’s no money out there, but our technology will have to keep pace.”
