HCPSS Students' PARCC Scores Ranked Among Top 5 In State

ELLICOTT CITY, MD — Maryland's Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams, the often controversial tests implemented in 2015, reveal that students' math scores statewide have remained flat and even dipped down, while English test scores showed some improvement across the state. While Howard County students performed similarly to the statewide trend, their results were impressive.

Howard County Public School System student scores were among the five top ranking Maryland school districts in all measures and ranked the highest among the five neighboring districts in every measure except seventh grade math. HCPSS students overall showed improvements in English language arts scores and slight declines for math scores compared to 2018 test results, mirroring state trends.

HCPSS overall English results for grades third through eighth were among the highest compared to other state districts, with 58.4 percent of students scoring at levels four and five, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous year. For 1oth grade English, 65.7 percent of students scored at levels four and five, an increase of 4.8 percentage points from 2018, and again among the highest performing state districts.

The 2019 English results for the elementary grades show 55.6 percent of students performing at levels four and five in third grade, 56.6 percent in fourth grade, and 59.1 percent in fifth grade, comparing favorably to 41.2 percent, 43.6 percent and 43.9 percent, respectively, for Maryland overall.

Middle school English results revealed similar trends, with 56.5 percent at levels four through five in sixth grade, 61 percent in seventh grade and 61.4 percent in eighth grade. The comparable state results for these grades were 41.1 percent, 47.3 percent and 45.1 percent. Elementary mathematics scores showed 57.4 percent of students at levels four and five in third grade, 56 percent in fourth grade and 54.1 percent in fifth grade, compared to 42.5 percent, 39.4 percent and 36.7 percent for these grades across Maryland.

HCPSS middle school mathematics scores were 47.1 percent, 32.3 percent and 18.3 percent in grades sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. At the high school level, HCPSS students outperformed students statewide. For algebra I, 55.8 percent of Howard County students scored at levels four and five, more than twice the state average of 27.2 percent. For the English 10 assessment, 65.7 percent achieved levels four and five at HCPSS, compared to 42.6 percent for the state.

“PARCC and other performance measures included in our strategic call to action serve as useful benchmarks to inform our instruction and help us identify opportunity gaps,” said Superintendent Michael J. Martirano in a statement. “We value this added insight, while keeping it in perspective among the multiple performance measures embedded in our strategic call to action, which guides our work in ensuring academic success and social-emotional well-being for every student.”

Last year was the final year in which the PARCC assessments were administered. The state is moving to the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which will focus on the same content and utilize material developed by state educators.

Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Salmon said during a meeting Aug. 27 that the state "has work to do" in the area of math instruction, but couldn't pinpoint the exact cause of the low math scores.

"Unless we had some startling information that clarifies this trend, I think that it's just a conundrum," Salmon said, according to WTOP.