Good grief, we’re still gonna have to talk about those damn test scores at Montgomery County Schools. As we told you Monday, superintendent Joshua Powell is once again trying to claim that the district’s scores can’t be inflated despite 20+% being… you know… self-scored.
So you probably won’t be surprised to learn that a Montgomery County educator reached out to us to share the following:
I can personally confirm that “The district was able to self-score on the program review and inflated the test scores.” The reason I know is because I was part of the Program Review committee for the REDACTED school and sat in on both school and district meetings. We were instructed to average a score of 2 for each standard/demonstrator we were assessed on (0=No implementation, 1=Needs improvement, 2=Proficient, 3=Distinguished). With each standard/demonstrator we had to find a piece(s) of evidence to back up that score. If we were not able to score a 2 or 3, we were asked to make up evidence before the end of the school year to show we were in compliance. During the school year we had 2 district meetings where we met with teachers within our content from different schools in the district and different grade levels. Each content area (Practical Living/Career Studies, Writing, Arts/Humanities, and Primary/K-3) met with the guidance of a district administrator. The administrator that led my group encouraged me to change the score for a few standards for the REDACTED school, stating that even though I marked us as proficient, she thought we were distinguished. Now mind you she was not my building principal, rather the Intermediate School principal therefore did not know first hand the happenings in my building.
They also included the following documents. Program Review data from the 2012-2013 school year.
CLICK EACH TO ENLARGE
You can compare data actually reported to the state on the school report card. As you can see, many schools had what could only be termed as drastic gains.
Interesting how that works.
Powell’s own people shining a light on shenanigans.
