Thursday, May 23, 2013
Congressman John Delaney and MCPS Teacher of the Year highlight graduation speakers for Gaithersburg area schools.
What do a Maryland governor hopeful, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the president of Honest Tea, Sen. Ben Cardin and Pennsylvania State University's head football coach have in common? Each will be tasked with imparting wisdom to graduates of Montgomery County Public Schools. Collectively, the 21 high schools will feature a bevy of speakers from the worlds of sports, politics, business and education. Most ceremonies will take place at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, but some will be held at the school or alternative venues. The full list: - Alternative Programs, 5/24/2013, 10:30 a.m., F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville, Ms. Mary Bowman, Poet, Singer, Author - Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, 6/6/2013, 10:00 a.m., DAR, Mr. Seth …
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Data from 2009 reveals that students have long struggled with final exams in MCPS math courses.
Few Montgomery County Public Schools students enrolled in high school math courses made high marks on final exams last semester, data released by the school district last week showed. In one class, Bridge to Algebra 2, less than 1 percent made an "A" on the final exam. (See data, above, that details the distribution of final exam grades "A" through "E" for eight math courses last semester.) School officials were prompted to release student math grades after members of the county school board grilled Superintendent Joshua Starr about last semester's final exam grades. Media outlets reported earlier this month that the majority of students in high school math—Algebra, Algebra 2, Geometry and Precalculus—failed their final exams. Starr …
Monday, May 6, 2013
The Gaithersburg school was one of 17 Montgomery County schools to make the list.
Quince Orchard High School was named one of the best high schools in the country, according to Newsweek/The Daily Beast, Montgomery County Public Schools announced Monday. The Gaithersburg high school—ranked 1,350th—was one of 17 Montgomery County high schools to make the list. The list only includes the top 2,000 high schools—less than 10 percent of all the high schools in the United States. “The Newsweek rankings, and other such lists, demonstrate that our high schools are national leaders in preparing students for college and the workplace,” MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr said. “While there is still work left to be done, our staff and community should be proud of how well we are serving our students.” Other county schools ranked …
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
"Students are the largest stakeholders, but we are noticeably underrepresented in making critical decisions" in the school system, said Justin Kim, 18, of Gaithersburg.
Meet Justin Kim, junior at Poolesville High and an 18-year-old Gaithersburg native who will serve as student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education next year. Kim was elected to the position with 65 percent of the student vote, Montgomery County Public Schools announced April 26. All secondary students in the system were eligible to participate in the election. Patch spoke to Kim about what he hopes to achieve during his term and the challenges the school system faces. Patch: Why did you want to become a member of the Montgomery County Board of Education? Justin Kim: I’ve always had a passion for service and working with others towards a common goal. Throughout my life, I am always looking for new ways to help others and …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Police and Montgomery County firefighters investigated the letter at Diamond Elementary.
A letter sent to a Diamond Elementary School faculty member contained an unknown substance and came from a fake Canadian business, a Gaithersburg police spokesman said Tuesday afternoon. Police were called to the Gaithersburg school Tuesday morning to investigate the letter, which Montgomery County Public Schools officials said posed no threat to students or staff. "The letter came from—it said on the receiving end—from a business out of Canada," Gaithersburg police Officer Dan Lane said. "When we looked up the business, the business didn't exist. So right now we don't know where it came from. "Where it came from is a fake address." Diamond Elementary instituted a "shelter in place" procedure and Marquis Drive was closed for a short time …
Summit Hall's entire fourth and fifth grade classes participated.
Summit Hall Elementary School fourth and fifth graders helped clean Gaithersburg's Muddy Branch as part of the 2013 Toyota TogetherGreen program, a spokesperson for the program said. The April 26 program introduced students to service learning while clearing Muddy Branch of litter and invasive plants, GreenKids' Diane Lill said. The Summit Hall students removed a total of 25 bags of trash and recyclables as well as two bags of invasive garlic mustard. The highlight of the day was when Summit Hall principal Keith Jones helped students remove a shopping cart from the stream, Lill said. Volunteers from the Muddy Branch Alliance and Maryland Master Naturalists, and the city of Gaithersburg (Morris Park) helped the students remove the collected…
Monday, April 29, 2013
Gaithersburg's DuFief Elementary School will have a new principal for the 2013-14 school year.
Gaithersburg's DuFief Elementary School will have a new principal for the 2013-14 school year, according to a report by The Gazette. Brent T. Mascott, currently a principal intern at Maryvale Elementary School in Rockville, will replace acting DuFief principal Lee Meiners. Mascott has worked in the Montgomery County Public Schools system since 1998, serving as a teacher until 2005. He then served as an assistant principal at Montgomery Village's Whetstone Elementary from 2005-2009 and Damascus's Clearspring Elementary from 2009-2012. As a principal intern, Mascott works in a school as a principal with support, MCPS spokesperson Dana Tofig told Patch. It is part of MCPS's leadership development program. "It’s the final step in the …
A new model for underperforming schools will work to close the county school system's achievement gap, school officials said.
Ten "Innovation Schools" within Montgomery County Public Schools will receive "shoulder-to-shoulder" support from the system's central office under a new program that will work to close the achievement gap. The new program, announced at the April 23 meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Education, will hire a new position—a chief school improvement officer—to work directly with the leadership staff at the selected schools. This dedicated central office position is new to the system's approach to working with struggling schools, said Deputy Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez. "We're limiting the number of schools so that (the improvement officer) can be on the ground working shoulder-to-shoulder with the leadership team on their …
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The Gaithersburg school was one of just two Montgomery County schools honored.
Gaithersburg's Summit Hall Elementary was one of two Montgomery County schools and 64 schools nationwide selected as a Green Ribbon award winner, Montgomery County Public Schools announced Tuesday. The Green Ribbon Schools award program, established in 2011, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and recognizes schools that save energy, reduce costs, feature environmentally sustainable learning spaces, protect health, foster wellness, and offer environmental education to boost academic achievement and community engagement, according to MCPS. Also selected was Germantown's Cedar Grove Elementary School. Representatives from the winning schools will participate in a national awards ceremony June 3, MCPS announced. The Maryland …
Pension issues and local funding to drive spending over next four years.
While Montgomery County spends approximately half of its annual $4 billion budget on K-12 education, that figure is expected to grow by more than $100 million over the next four years, according to a recent Washington Post article. Two state mandates uncovered by Montgomery County Council staff will drive the increased spending—the shift of teacher pension costs from the state to the counties and the “maintenance of effort” rules which require schools to maintain a level of per-pupil funding at least equal to the previous year, The Post reported. Montgomery County Councilmember Valerie Ervin (D-Dist 5) described the increases in education funding as “a runway train.” Montgomery County Council staff director Stephen Farber described the …
AMSV
3:50 pm on Thursday, May 23, 2013
It makes me wonder if there is a problem with how the exams are written. If a large number of students fail, it is reasonable to consider that the test itself may be a problem. If a student gets an A all year and flunks the exam, was the teacher too easy all year or was the exam too hard or confusing? I have never liked standardized tests. They don't tell the big picture. And, frankly, I think … more ›