PSA: Baltimore MD Public High Schools and Math

[Lanny]

This is a real tragedy.  For the students and for the USA.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/09/13-baltimore-high-schools-no-students-proficient-in-math-report-says.html

 

[gstharr]

Tragic and ironic. The surrounding suburbs have some of the best school districts in the country. Some districts are well known in Asia.  The price of entry into these enclaves is as low as a $400k home.  

[Lanny]

I wonder if this is because the students do not want to learn and/or the teachers are not competent in the subject and/or the teachers do not know how to teach the subject matter?   I would think, if I were to assume, that at least some of the students, in 13 High Schools, would be interested in learning the subject, if it was taught properly.    I don't know how many students are involved, but this is horrible for them. 

[creekland]

That's a really short story not giving many details.  I'm not super familiar with Baltimore's Public Schools, but I'm pretty sure they have competitive options kids can compete for (or maybe it's a lottery), so I expect those who care about education know the area and head that way.  Those who don't care end up in the failing schools.  Someone there can correct me if what I've pieced together through hearsay is incorrect.

 

It's really tough to fill in any gaps when kids/parents don't care.  I was discussing this with a young lad in my Geometry class who might have been doing a less than stellar effort yesterday.  He has a job already (Jiffy Lube) and sees no point in learning Geometry.  He plans to stay working at Jiffy Lube as a career and is just putting in his required hours at our school.  How, exactly, does one get someone like that to care about the Law of Sines and Cosines?  One can also muse that he's correct that he really won't ever use the info in his job (or life) either, so why does our state require the credit?  Why not a business math instead?

 

Then too, it's common for us to have several kids whose parents work in MD, but moved up here to PA and a chief reason I'm given is the difference in school districts.  Our COL (especially housing) is considerably less than 400K, making the commute attractive.  We're just an average school district for our state, but our math proficiency rate at the high school is 78%.  Our county average is 76%.  I know other districts around us have plenty of parents who work in MD too.

[Guest]

That's a really short story not giving many details. I'm not super familiar with Baltimore's Public Schools, but I'm pretty sure they have competitive options kids can compete for (or maybe it's a lottery), so I expect those who care about education know the area and head that way. Those who don't care end up in the failing schools. Someone there can correct me if what I've pieced together through hearsay is incorrect.

 

It's really tough to fill in any gaps when kids/parents don't care. I was discussing this with a young lad in my Geometry class who might have been doing a less than stellar effort yesterday. He has a job already (Jiffy Lube) and sees no point in learning Geometry. He plans to stay working at Jiffy Lube as a career and is just putting in his required hours at our school. How, exactly, does one get someone like that to care about the Law of Sines and Cosines? One can also muse that he's correct that he really won't ever use the info in his job (or life) either, so why does our state require the credit? Why not a business math instead?

 

Then too, it's common for us to have several kids whose parents work in MD, but moved up here to PA and a chief reason I'm given is the difference in school districts. Our COL (especially housing) is considerably less than 400K, making the commute attractive. We're just an average school district for our state, but our math proficiency rate at the high school is 78%. Our county average is 76%. I know other districts around us have plenty of parents who work in MD too.

I do have some doubts about the validity of that article, but it is not completely wrong in any case. I mentioned something similar because the state’s PARC scores were recently published and you can see very clearly the extreme disparity in competency between different counties.

 

I don’t know how unusual this is, but Maryland has very significant variations in economic level within, in some cases, mere miles. So you can have an extremely posh neighborhood, full of multi-million-dollar homes and a top-flight school literally a few square miles from a very depressed area with deplorable schools. This is especially true sourrounding Baltimore City, but there are other areas where it’s true, too.

 

I do not know how the gap can be closed. It is a complex problem. I do not think “no†children in depressed schools wish to learn, and I do not think “no†teachers are competant to do it, but there are serious problems of uninvolved parents, drugs, poverty, teen parents, violence, and much more.

[QueenCat]

Interesting....... I have a nephew who is in 10th grade in a Baltimore City school. He is taking Algebra 2 this year (he took Alg 1 in 8th grade, Geometry in 9th). He is quite good at math, as in, scores very high on nationally normed tests. 

[creekland]

I do not know how the gap can be closed. It is a complex problem. I do not think “no†children in depressed schools wish to learn, and I do not think “no†teachers are competant to do it, but there are serious problems of uninvolved parents, drugs, poverty, teen parents, violence, and much more.

 

Not Baltimore, but Florida.  Youngest spent his summer there this past year working at a camp for inner city (disadvantaged) youth.  He came across some who were quite smart and tried to encourage them to do well in school (scholarships, etc).  Every. Single. One. told him they couldn't do that.  Why?  They'd be dissed in their neighborhood and potentially the target for violence.  They told him they envied the life he's been able to have, but they don't get that.  My big, tough, "can-do-anything" college boy sometimes cried when he had to send them back home at the end of the week.  It was tough for him.  He originally took the job thinking he might like to work with disadvantaged teens for a career, but came home saying no, he couldn't do it.  I suspect the emotional drain was too big.

 

How does one solve that problem?  I had no answers for him when he asked.  I still have no answers.  I admire those who move looking for better situations for their kids (like those who move here from Baltimore), but certainly not everyone can move.  It takes money.  It takes having a job.  It requires leaving extended family and the life one has known.

 

(And of course I admire those who homeschool, but that isn't an option either for so many of the kids he met.)

[creekland]

Interesting....... I have a nephew who is in 10th grade in a Baltimore City school. He is taking Algebra 2 this year (he took Alg 1 in 8th grade, Geometry in 9th). He is quite good at math, as in, scores very high on nationally normed tests. 

 

That's the thing.  The article says 13 of the 39 schools completely fail and it jumps up to 19/39 if one adds the 1% group.

 

This means 20/39 aren't worthy of the news article.  My guess is your nephew attends one of those 20.

 

But it's still sad when there are 19/20 potentially worthy of a story.

[Arcadia]

I don’t know how unusual this is, but Maryland has very significant variations in economic level within, in some cases, mere miles. So you can have an extremely posh neighborhood, full of multi-million-dollar homes and a top-flight school literally a few square miles from a very depressed area with deplorable schools. This is especially true sourrounding Baltimore City, but there are other areas where it’s true, too.

We did see that when we took the public buses from BWI airport to John Hopkins University, then the public buses again from JHU to the Megabus waiting place.

[Arcadia]

I wonder if this is because the students do not want to learn and/or the teachers are not competent in the subject and/or the teachers do not know how to teach the subject matter? I would think, if I were to assume, that at least some of the students, in 13 High Schools, would be interested in learning the subject, if it was taught properly.

I’m not in Baltimore so can’t tell about schools there. My kids Chinese tutor whose 9th grader goes to an “above average†high school in a different city to mine said that her math teacher for honors algebra 2 knows how to teach math. She feels that her K-8 teachers couldn’t teach math. Her parents could easily teach her afterschool all the way to calculus. All the Asians in that high school score very well in state testing for English and Math, and I can safely assume it is due to parents and tutors teaching them English and math after school. Another group that does well (not tippy top but pass) are the kids who regularly go to the library for the free afterschool homework help there.

 

Kids usually want to play but they do want to learn too. Kids usually do not want to spend hours at school to learn nothing. My oldest has a 1st grade teacher who is math phobic. A friend’s son had a teacher who could not teach 3rd grade well so the teacher taught kindergarten the following year. This teacher is a very caring and friendly person and kindergarten does suit her better. My oldest kindergarten teacher is strong in languages and math and can teach math easily from k-8th but she prefers to teach kindergarten. So teacher assignment to grade level and subject is kind of messy and doesn’t go by proficiency here as far as I know.

[luuknam]

I don't know which test this is referring to - PARCC or MSAA... I looked at the MSAA results, and Baltimore (city) overall has a higher percentage of high schoolers proficient in math than Maryland overall - about 27% vs about 20%: 

 

http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/MSAAHighResults.aspx?PV=192:11:30:AAAA:1:N:0:13:2:1:0:1:1:1:3

 

http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/MSAAHighResults.aspx?PV=192:11:99:AAAA:1:N:0:13:2:1:0:1:1:1:3

 

That's the thing.  The article says 13 of the 39 schools completely fail and it jumps up to 19/39 if one adds the 1% group.

 

This means 20/39 aren't worthy of the news article.  My guess is your nephew attends one of those 20.

 

But it's still sad when there are 19/20 potentially worthy of a story.

 

Not necessarily... I'd say schools with only 2 or 3% proficient should probably be considered to be failing as well... I don't know where I'd put the cut-off though (and I'm not going to look up the percentages for each individual school). 

Edited November 10, 2017 by luuknam

[creekland]

Not necessarily... I'd say schools with only 2 or 3% proficient should probably be considered to be failing as well... I don't know where I'd put the cut-off though (and I'm not going to look up the percentages for each individual school). 

 

I strongly suspect if there were schools with just 2 or 3% success they'd have been included in the story as they would fit it well.  I've no idea where the cut off is though, and I certainly haven't looked up individual school numbers for Baltimore.

 

Since a PP mentioned Baltimore has school choice, it seems to me that anyone wanting a different school could choose one to go to, unless perhaps they have trouble arranging transportation or schools fill up and have no empty slots.

 

The simple fact of life is that there are many parents/students who simply do not value academics.  That happens everywhere (public school anyway).

 

Folks do best when they're in their niche. I'd prefer a more European system where folks like the young lad I'm soon to try to teach the Law of Cosines to (well, his class, I doubt he's going to put in effort) could graduate after 9th or 10th grade and happily move on to the trade he wants to be in.  I can't say I know how to get everyone to value learning just for the educational aspect of it all.

[2ndGenHomeschooler]

Not Baltimore, but Florida. Youngest spent his summer there this past year working at a camp for inner city (disadvantaged) youth. He came across some who were quite smart and tried to encourage them to do well in school (scholarships, etc). Every. Single. One. told him they couldn't do that. Why? They'd be dissed in their neighborhood and potentially the target for violence. They told him they envied the life he's been able to have, but they don't get that. My big, tough, "can-do-anything" college boy sometimes cried when he had to send them back home at the end of the week. It was tough for him. He originally took the job thinking he might like to work with disadvantaged teens for a career, but came home saying no, he couldn't do it. I suspect the emotional drain was too big.

 

How does one solve that problem? I had no answers for him when he asked. I still have no answers. I admire those who move looking for better situations for their kids (like those who move here from Baltimore), but certainly not everyone can move. It takes money. It takes having a job. It requires leaving extended family and the life one has known.

 

(And of course I admire those who homeschool, but that isn't an option either for so many of the kids he met.)

This is really heartbreaking. My guess is that this is one of the biggest issues in these communities. No education eliminates many career opportunities - medicine, law, engineering, business, and so many others. The problem of being dissed in their community also applies to specific jobs as well. Police Departments, for example, can’t get applicants from these communities because they’d be ostracized. They’re called “Uncle Tomsâ€. The whole thing makes it so difficult for kids who want a different life to leave. I know a few kids in this situation and it makes me cry to know that they don’t think they have any options in life.

[KungFuPanda]

Interesting....... I have a nephew who is in 10th grade in a Baltimore City school. He is taking Algebra 2 this year (he took Alg 1 in 8th grade, Geometry in 9th). He is quite good at math, as in, scores very high on nationally normed tests.

Is it possible that your nephew is in a magnet school or Baltimore County schools? City and County are very different and not every city school was included in the article. Thecartical was weirdly vague and shouldn’t have been published. I’m in a suburb and can get to Baltimore in less than 20 minutes. Everything is close here. If someone doesn’t like a local school, it is a very short move to a better one . . . even within the same economic level,but this moving requires motivated and involved parents.

 

If Baltimore is like neighboring counties, there doesn’t exist a high school math class below Algebra. If they arrive ill-prepared they’re very likely to fail that class. These schools are likely close together too. This is a populated area. I’m in the suburbs and it would take me less than ten minutes to get to several high schools that we’re not zoned for. One easy way to attend a different school is to join an ROTC program that your school doesn’t have. Another is to have a parent that works at the other school.

 

With lots of private schools in the area, lots of homeschoolers, people shifting out of ‘bad’ public schools to better ones relatively easily, the population that is stuck in them is going to be more at-risk than average and in a “betterâ€school they would just dilute the test scores but not move the school into the “bad†category. I’m sure these populations include recent refugees from horrific situations who just need some time and normalcy before they can care a whole lot about Algebra.

 

Where I grew up, high schools were far apart. The concentration of schools creates some interesting scenarios that might be unfamiliar in other areas of the country.

Edited November 10, 2017 by KungFuPanda

[Hilltopmom]

I dunno about the MD area, but here in NY my very motivated to learn but very dyscalculiac (I just made up that word) child is in grade level math and lost and also in Special Ed Math and lost (That class is teaching just one grade level behind) and they don’t offer ANY remedial math.

So, although they recognize that she’s at least 4/5 grade levels below, they don’t have a program for that or anyone to work with her at her level.

They’re just hoping she can skip learning elementary school Math and miraculously learn high school math next year.

Not an inner city district, rural, upstate, plenty of money to fund the football team.

[creekland]

This is really heartbreaking. My guess is that this is one of the biggest issues in these communities. No education eliminates many career opportunities - medicine, law, engineering, business, and so many others. The problem of being dissed in their community also applies to specific jobs as well. Police Departments, for example, can’t get applicants from these communities because they’d be ostracized. They’re called “Uncle Tomsâ€. The whole thing makes it so difficult for kids who want a different life to leave. I know a few kids in this situation and it makes me cry to know that they don’t think they have any options in life.

 

It is incredibly heartbreaking, esp watching your son's eyes well up as he tells you about it.  He wanted to make a difference in these kids lives - to show them there is another option - and he did.  He was loved.  Behaviors changed (positively) from his first day with them to their last.  But it was for one week (each group).  Then they had to go back home.  In the end we're not really sure the overall program works.  It shows these kids what others have, but if there's no way for them to get there, does it end up disheartening more than encouraging?  We honestly don't know.  And in discussions among ourselves since, we really don't know what the overall solution is even if we were Grand Pumba and could make it happen.

 

On a different note... there are times when teachers can make all the difference too.  We just finished the Law of Cosines with the class I've been with for a week now - a quite unruly class I was forewarned about - consisting of mostly 11th and 12th graders who need a math credit (Geometry is usually a 9th or 10th grade class).  I can't say all worked hard, but I can say a good 80% can now do these problems and I feel a bit sorry for those who outright asked if I could replace their regular teacher (a common occurrence with some teachers I'm in for).  The difference between us?  I teach concepts, not memorization.  I require good behavior even if they don't care to actually be paying attention - they must be quiet so others can listen and ask questions.  I give several examples and answer any question asked without putting someone down.  And I believe in them.  I don't look down at these kids because they are slower picking up math.  These are all reasons the kids gave me - specifically spoken.  I hear them often.  (We have good teachers in our school, but this particular one is one I made sure my own b&m son did not get...)

 

Where schools aren't good (as perhaps in those Baltimore schools), chances are the teachers aren't necessarily great either.  It's probably a combo.  So much in our lives is luck - from the birth lottery to whichever teacher one gets for any particular class.

 

How do we fix luck?  Those with money can work around some deficits.  Those without are stuck.

[Hilltopmom]

if she is not classified she should be getting tutoring

 

if she is classified, did you agree to her placement ?

 

are you sure the district is funding the football team? here its the boosters...the total cost for middle school sports is less than one teacher for one year.

She is classified. Her placement is the only option for her. The only lower class is non verbal, multiply disabled kids. No other districts nearby (within 1-2 hours) offer anything else either.

 

All of her other classes are Gen Ed and she’s doing ok in those.

 

Her Special Ed math teacher and I are trying to get a period of one on one remedial Math added, but the district is refusing so far (“no staffâ€). I “know†they could do it if they wanted to- I used to be a self contained high school teacher and at times had just one student in a placement.

 

They just don’t offer “remedial math†for anyone.

AIS is offered but they still only will work on grade level math.

 

And yeah, sports are funded by the district here, boosters do help pay for stuff like new uniforms though.

 

Sorry- kinda derailing the thread

Edited November 10, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[Garga]

I don’t know how unusual this is, but Maryland has very significant variations in economic level within, in some cases, mere miles. So you can have an extremely posh neighborhood, full of multi-million-dollar homes and a top-flight school literally a few square miles from a very depressed area with deplorable schools. This is especially true sourrounding Baltimore City, but there are other areas where it’s true, too.

 

 

This is an aside:

 

My parents lived in the Baltimore suburbs and rarely went to the city.  When some relatives from California visited, they asked their friend Barbara, who was familiar with Baltimore, to take them all on a ride through Baltimore and show them the city.

 

She took them to all the very, very expensive areas and the relatives left thinking Baltimore was a pretty amazing city.

 

The next time different relatives from California visited, my parents again asked Barbara to take the relatives around Baltimore to see the city.  This time, Barbara took them to all the super bad parts of the city.  My parents kept saying, "No!  Show them all those nice places like last time!" and Barbara was all serious and saying things like, "Oh, come on.  You know there no nice places in Baltimore."  Those relatives left thinking Baltimore was a complete dump.

 

​Barbara thought it was all pretty hilarious.  

Edited November 10, 2017 by Garga

[Garga]

The article was extremely tiny with very few details.  Hard to tell from it what's really going on. 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Garga

[KungFuPanda]

Here’s a similar article. We see these all the time here. http://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/6-baltimore-schools-no-students-proficient-in-state-tests

 

What the article doesn’t tell you is that one of the schools on the list is a fine arts middle school. One was built by a racist government to keep black children separated from white ones and it suffers from this legacy to this day. The rest on the list are alternative schools for kids who cannot be in a regular school or classroom.

[QueenCat]

Is it possible that your nephew is in a magnet school or Baltimore County schools? City and County are very different and not every city school was included in the article. Thecartical was weirdly vague and shouldn’t have been published. I’m in a suburb and can get to Baltimore in less than 20 minutes. Everything is close here. If someone doesn’t like a local school, it is a very short move to a better one . . . even within the same economic level,but this moving requires motivated and involved parents.

 

If Baltimore is like neighboring counties, there doesn’t exist a high school math class below Algebra. If they arrive ill-prepared they’re very likely to fail that class. These schools are likely close together too. This is a populated area. I’m in the suburbs and it would take me less than ten minutes to get to several high schools that we’re not zoned for. One easy way to attend a different school is to join an ROTC program that your school doesn’t have. Another is to have a parent that works at the other school.

 

With lots of private schools in the area, lots of homeschoolers, people shifting out of ‘bad’ public schools to better ones relatively easily, the population that is stuck in them is going to be more at-risk than average and in a “betterâ€school they would just dilute the test scores but not move the school into the “bad†category. I’m sure these populations include recent refugees from horrific situations who just need some time and normalcy before they can care a whole lot about Algebra.

 

Where I grew up, high schools were far apart. The concentration of schools creates some interesting scenarios that might be unfamiliar in other areas of the country.

 

He's at Baltimore Polytech, which is a public city school. It's a family tradition to go there. I know Baltimore well, and do know the difference between the city and the county. I lived there as a young child, have much family still there and then grew up in the suburb you currently reside in. And in that suburb, I could walk to two high schools and drive to a few more in a very short time, so I know exactly what you mean ;) 

 

I find the headline misleading, as it implies something that isn't quite accurate. 

[QueenCat]

That's the thing.  The article says 13 of the 39 schools completely fail and it jumps up to 19/39 if one adds the 1% group.

 

This means 20/39 aren't worthy of the news article.  My guess is your nephew attends one of those 20.

 

But it's still sad when there are 19/20 potentially worthy of a story.

 

It is sad but I still don't care for headlines that imply that all are failing when it's not the case. 

[creekland]

It is sad but I still don't care for headlines that imply that all are failing when it's not the case. 

 

Same here.  But consider the source.

[creekland]

He's at Baltimore Polytech, which is a public city school. It's a family tradition to go there. I know Baltimore well, and do know the difference between the city and the county. I lived there as a young child, have much family still there and then grew up in the suburb you currently reside in. And in that suburb, I could walk to two high schools and drive to a few more in a very short time, so I know exactly what you mean ;)

 

I find the headline misleading, as it implies something that isn't quite accurate. 

 

Out of curiosity I just looked up how Poly does on US News' comparison site (comparing high schools).  I'll admit I was super surprised to see they only have a 27% Math Proficiency rate, yet they get a Silver Medal and national ranking.

 

When I compare it to the school I work at... we get a Bronze Medal and no national ranking, but have a 79% Math Proficiency rate. 

 

Both get 77% for English.  Poly's Graduation rate is 94%.  Mine is 91%.

 

Now I wonder how they do their overall ratings... or if there's some sort of error in the numbers with math and MD (in general).  That 27% seems awfully low for the school.  I'd be suspicious of it wondering if they're using the same (or similar) test that PA uses.  My guess is they aren't.

 

Here's Poly's data:

 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools/baltimore-polytechnic-institute-9009

 

I don't quite feel like sharing mine.

[Arcadia]

Now I wonder how they do their overall ratings... or if there's some sort of error in the numbers with math and MD (in general). That 27% seems awfully low for the school. I'd be suspicious of it wondering if they're using the same (or similar) test that PA uses. My guess is they aren't.

 

Here's Poly's data:

 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools/baltimore-polytechnic-institute-9009

For Baltimore, it is stated on the USNews link that math proficiency rate is based on PARCC

“Proficiency is determined by student results on the school's Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.‘

 

For California it is based on CAHSEE which was suspended in January 2016 so the proficiency rate would be old data for California public high schools. My district’s high schools did badly on the Spring 2017 smarter balanced state testing exams.

“Proficiency is determined by student results on the school's California High School Exit Exam.â€

 

ETA:

For PA

“Proficiency is determined by student results on the school's Keystone End-of-Course Exams.â€

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/pennsylvania/districts/school-district-of-philadelphia/julia-r-masterman-secondary-school-17216/test-scores

Edited November 10, 2017 by Arcadia

[QueenCat]

Out of curiosity I just looked up how Poly does on US News' comparison site (comparing high schools).  I'll admit I was super surprised to see they only have a 27% Math Proficiency rate, yet they get a Silver Medal and national ranking.

 

When I compare it to the school I work at... we get a Bronze Medal and no national ranking, but have a 79% Math Proficiency rate. 

 

Both get 77% for English.  Poly's Graduation rate is 94%.  Mine is 91%.

 

Now I wonder how they do their overall ratings... or if there's some sort of error in the numbers with math and MD (in general).  That 27% seems awfully low for the school.  I'd be suspicious of it wondering if they're using the same (or similar) test that PA uses.  My guess is they aren't.

 

Here's Poly's data:

 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools/baltimore-polytechnic-institute-9009

 

I don't quite feel like sharing mine.

 

I do know that all students are required to do more than state minimum credits to graduate. All are on college prep tracks. I'm surprised at those numbers. Just doesn't sound "right" for what Poly does as a school. A little research shows that they require a 65th percentile in math and reading from either the Stanford/TerraNova/MSA as part of their admissions standards. 

[Arcadia]

Out of curiosity I just looked up how Poly does on US News' comparison site (comparing high schools).  I'll admit I was super surprised to see they only have a 27% Math Proficiency rate, yet they get a Silver Medal and national ranking.

 ...

Now I wonder how they do their overall ratings... or if there's some sort of error in the numbers with math and MD (in general).  That 27% seems awfully low for the school.  I'd be suspicious of it wondering if they're using the same (or similar) test that PA uses.  My guess is they aren't.

 

Here's Poly's data:

 

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools/baltimore-polytechnic-institute-9009

 

  

I do know that all students are required to do more than state minimum credits to graduate. All are on college prep tracks. I'm surprised at those numbers. Just doesn't sound "right" for what Poly does as a school. A little research shows that they require a 65th percentile in math and reading from either the Stanford/TerraNova/MSA as part of their admissions standards.

 

USNews proficiency rate seems off. The PARCC results for Baltimore Polytechnic Institute was (Periods added for spacing)

“County .................... School ........................................... Test ......... % passing 2016 ......... % passing 2017

Baltimore City ......... Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ......... ALG01 ......... 71.9 ................. 57.5

Baltimore City ......... Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ......... ALG02 ......... 33.6 .................. 42.3

Baltimore City ......... Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ......... ELA10 ......... 75.6 .................. 72.6

Baltimore City ......... Baltimore Polytechnic Institute ......... ELA11 .......... 52.4 .................. 78.4†http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/parcc2017/all-tests/

[creekland]

For PA

“Proficiency is determined by student results on the school's Keystone End-of-Course Exams.â€

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/pennsylvania/districts/school-district-of-philadelphia/julia-r-masterman-secondary-school-17216/test-scores

 

This easily explains the difference.  Our Keystone test is only for Alg 1.  There is nothing else in math afterward.  No Geometry, Alg II, etc.

 

Considering Poly has a decent AP test passing rate, I suspect MD's test does a bit more.

 

Thanks for catching those details.  I knew something wasn't adding up to what I was reading.

 

I do know that all students are required to do more than state minimum credits to graduate. All are on college prep tracks. I'm surprised at those numbers. Just doesn't sound "right" for what Poly does as a school. A little research shows that they require a 65th percentile in math and reading from either the Stanford/TerraNova/MSA as part of their admissions standards. 

 

I know someone who went to Poly.  Seems like a terrific school to me.  That's why the numbers were surprising - esp for math.