Ninety-two Percent of MCPS High Schools Meet AYP; Montgomery Blair Exits School Improvement

Twenty-three of the 25 comprehensive high schools in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), for an overall success rate of 92 percent, according to Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) data released on Monday, September 21.

Montgomery Blair High School met AYP for two consecutive years, 2008 and 2009, and has exited the state’s School Improvement list. Watkins Mill High School met AYP in 2009 and will exit School Improvement if it meets AYP again in 2010.

Two high schools were identified for local attention this year—Springbrook and Northwood high schools. Reading targets were not met for special education and limited English proficient students at Springbrook, while Northwood missed the graduation rate target for all students. Local attention means that the school system should monitor a school’s improvement efforts in the area or areas not meeting state standards.

The results released Monday complete state reporting of AYP data for all comprehensive schools. In August, MSDE reported AYP results for elementary and middle schools. For the fifth consecutive year, none of the elementary schools in Montgomery County with the highest poverty levels (Title I) are on the state’s School Improvement list.

Monday’s report from the state also included results for students in special schools. Of the seven special schools, five met AYP for a success rate of 71.4 percent. Longview School and Gateway to College Program were identified as requiring local attention. Stephen Knolls School met AYP in 2009 and will exit School Improvement if it meets AYP again in 2010.

Additional information on how AYP is calculated and individual school scores are available on the Maryland State Department of Education report card website.