Workshops Scheduled to Inform Parents about Requirements
of the Maryland High School Assessments

A series of workshops for parents on the Maryland High School Assessments (HSAs) will get under way on January 31. The workshops will provide information about the state-mandated tests and will share strategies for parents to support and encourage their children.

Beginning with the Class of 2009 (this year’s 10th graders), a student must pass the Maryland HSA for English 10; algebra 1; biology; and national, state and local government in order to graduate.

The HSA parent workshops will be conducted by Montgomery County Public Schools staff from the Division of Family and Community Partnerships and the Division of ESOL/Bilingual Programs. They will be held from 7-9 p.m. on the following dates:

January 31—Albert Einstein HS
February 1—James Hubert Blake HS
February 7—Northwood HS
February 8—Northwest HS
February 14—Damascus HS
February 15—Montgomery Blair HS
February 27—Thomas S. Wootton HS
February 28—Richard Montgomery HS
March 1—Gaithersburg HS
March 7—Clarksburg HS
March 8—Sherwood HS
March 12—Walter Johnson HS
March 14—John F. Kennedy HS

All school sites will have sessions conducted in English and Spanish, and some sites will have sessions in other languages. Interpretation services will be provided for Chinese, French, Vietnamese, Korean and Amharic for sites not providing a session in the needed language. Sign language interpretation will be available upon request at least one week prior to the event by contacting the Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at 301-517-5539 or 5582 (voice/TTY). Free childcare also will be provided. For more information, contact the Division of Family and Community Partnerships at 301-279-3100.

More information on HSAs—including practice questions for English and algebra through High School Prep Online—is available on the MCPS Web site.