Maryland Achieves Seventh Straight Year of Leading the Nation in Top Scores
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Martin O’Malley released the following statement after the College Board announced that Maryland students have achieved yet another number one national ranking in Advanced Placement (AP) success.
“Because of the better choices we’ve made together to invest in our children’s future, we’ve built the #1 public schools in the nation,” said Governor O’Malley. “Thanks to our hardworking students, our dedicated educators and our outstanding parents, Maryland’s high school students have achieved the nation’s best performance on AP exams for seven years in a row – outperforming their peers and gaining the skills they need to learn, earn and grow in the future.
“The most important investments we make as a people are investments in public education. Even in the toughest times, we’ve chosen to increase school funding 45% since 2006. Those investments are giving our principals, our teachers and our students the resources to continue to lead the nation in graduation rates, student achievement and the highest participation rate in AP science, technology, engineering and math exams in our state’s history.”
According to the College Board’s “Annual AP Report to the Nation,” the percentage of Maryland seniors who earned a score of 3 or higher on one or more AP exams reached 28.6 in 2012, the highest percentage in the nation and an increase over the 27.9 percent tallied in 2011.
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This happens regularly when your lesson plan is designed around teaching the test.
ReplyDeleteThis is more cherry picking of statistics from the O'Malley regime.
1:46, do you know what an Advanced Placement class is?
ReplyDeleteI'm not 1:46 but I do know what AP stands for and what it means. AP courses as well as regular classes are taught around "the test" though different tests of course.
ReplyDeleteSyllabi and curriculum is based on memorization as opposed to teaching. 1:46 is correct in what they stated.
What would be interesting to know is how many of those taking this test were given special accomodations such as 50-100% longer to take the test and even have someone read the test to them. There are many other "accomodations" provided for students who have been diagnosed with things such as ADD, Autistic Disorders, Ausperger's, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can see accomodations made for those with physical limitations, blind or deaf students, the list of those who who are considered "disabled" and are eligible for these "accomodations" is out of control.
The bottom line is it's a faux sense of accomplishment for the state and O'Malley is lying (what else is new) and the schools are failing miserably. If it weren't for the students who have been given all these crazy diagnosis' and the fact that that allows for test modifications MD schools would fall very behind.
I just heard the same last summer from a pediatrician friend who lives and practices on the Western Shore. She made a comment in regards to how many school age children she sees who cannot read.
ReplyDeleteSomeone else brought up how if they cannot read how do they pass all these tests. She said they are termed as having some learning disability and then the tests can be read aloud to them. She said she was told this by a 30 year plus teacher who said they teach "out of a box anymore" and "the box keeps on getting smaller and smaller."
4:48, true, but it's not as if this is some kind of program unique to Maryland. Every state has AP classes and they are mostly taken by kids who are in the top 25% of their class.
ReplyDeleteAll lies and garbage. It's all about job creation then justification for a select group of thieves posing as educators, administrators, and most of all the numerous hidden benefactors of all this nonsense. All this at the expense of the students.
ReplyDeleteIf our schools are so great, why are so many high school grads unable to read, write, and express themselves clearly? When they can't read a tape measure, I can't hire them!
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Have any of you even taken an AP course? I took 5 when I was in high school. They are not taught to the test; they have regular curriculum and are similar to college courses. It is also a national program and not unique to Maryland. They prepared me well for college, and I maintained a 4.0. Those of you who are talking about students who cannot read or write are extremely misguided if you think those students would have been taking AP level classes. Do a little research before making comments.
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