ANSWER:

Middle school staffing is based on a formula that assumes that each student takes seven classes and each teacher teaches five classes.  Adjustments to the formula are made for resource teachers and team leaders who teach four classes to allow time for their leadership responsibilities.  To staff schools at five of eight schedules, the staffing formula would be adjusted to calculate each student taking eight classes.  This would add approximately six teachers per school at a cost of $393,741, including employee benefits.  Currently there are six middle schools offering 8-period days: Silver Spring International, Argyle, A. Mario Loiederman, Neelesville, Takoma Park, and Parkland.  Restoring this type of scheduling to the remaining 32 schools would require adding 192 teachers at a total new hire cost of $12,599,712, or an average salary cost of $18,834,272, including employee benefits.

Maryland School Assessment (MSA) data for the 8-period day schools and the non-8-period day schools are provided below.   There are significant differences in performance among students scoring advanced in reading and math at all three grade levels, with 7-period schools scoring significantly higher.  When making the comparison between 8-period schools and non-8-period schools for students scoring proficient and above, the performance between the two types of schedule shows less contrast.

Table 1
Percentage of MCPS Grade 8 Students Who Successfully Completed Algebra 1
with a C or Higher

Table 2
Percentage of Students Scoring Advanced only on MSA by Grade and Subject

Table 3
Percentage of Students Scoring Advanced and Proficient on MSA by Grade and Subject