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Sunday, July 06, 2014

Steep Failure Rate On Algebra I Exams In Montgomery Leads To Mass Recalculation

Montgomery County’s failure rate for the June final exam in Algebra 1 was so steep — 82 percent for high school students — that district officials say they decided to add 15 percentage points to all test grades, recalculate scores and reprint thousands of report cards.

Report cards across the system were mailed Friday, three days late, and many parents said they received them Saturday.

The last-minute scramble to adjust for the poor results came as perhaps the most vivid example so far of fallout from widespread exam failures in the high-performing school system.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy, that's sure a good solution! What does that teach the kids?

Anonymous said...

wow. free summer school. what a great deal.

no caps on purpose.

Anonymous said...

Apparently this failure is nothing new. In the fall they also had a high failure rate.
As for adding 15 pts, well that is so ridiculous. They failed period, don't try to sugar coat this crap.
I guess we will be seeing this here soon...

Anonymous said...

As a high school teacher in Wicomico, let me assure you it's already occurring here. Grades are changed to make sure certain groups of kids pass and graduate no matter what.

Anonymous said...

Assuming at least one student received 100% on the test, I assume they now received a 115% on test.

Anonymous said...

I am also a teacher and concur with 9:36. Certain groups are given grades to pass class's and graduate. I've seen kids fail for 3 straight years and then pass 3 years of classes in one year (yeah right) and walk across with everyone else like they earned it. Its a big joke.

Anonymous said...

This is why MD Schools are #1! It's what I've been saying over and over. MD public schools in reality are so behind other states it is pathetic. Test scores are not only recalculated but a large percentage of students are taking modified tests because of some perceived (fake really) "learning disability" such as Autism, ADD, etc. Parents need to take the schools back and demand honesty out of the school officials and the politicians that control them. Remember any and all school administrators do not have the students best interests at heart. They have their own best interests at heart and this requires them to obey without fail and without question what the elected officials tell them.
Elected officials demand that they lie and cheat, so the politicians have a bragging platform such as MD has #1 schools.
Vote straight GOP in November. The worst republican is far far better then any democrat who condones dishonesty, lying and misleading the public.

Anonymous said...

why stop at 15? how about a TRILLION? after all, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?

Anonymous said...

That's the same strategy the global warming alarmists use. When the temps don't go up as planned, just add some degrees to the reports and walah problem solved.

Anonymous said...

The dumbing down of America!

Anonymous said...

The dumbing down of democrats. Republicans are intellectually superior and would not ever fall for this nonsense. It is becoming more and more imperative that parents do not in anyway shape or form allow their children to socialize with the children of democrats. They are not of the same class level, and their foulness will rub off on young impressionable children.
Democrats aren't good people and do not have the same good values as conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Counties like Wicomico offer skipping exams as an incentive related to attendance and not awful behavior. So few kids take exams, there's no chance for the public to find out how little students know at the end of a course.

Anonymous said...

Stop and think about THIS:

Montgomery County is one of the RICHEST counties in the entire nation.

Their school budget is huge!

So, all that lovely money and the kids STILL can't pass a math exam?

There's Martin O'Malley and friends skipping down the street chanting, "We're #1, We're #1"