The Failure of Public Schools in Montgomery Village

The Failure of the Montgomery County Public Schools in Montgomery Village

WalletHub currently ranks Virginia seventh and Maryland 14th out of the top 15 public school systems in the nation. WalletHub analyzed student-teach ratios, dropout rates and overall test score. The two main factors that determined results were school system and educational/safety output, which determines how states spend on education, handle bullying and overall safety, respectively. Maryland ranked 16th in the nation for school system quality but only 27th in terms of safety and education.

SchoolDigger is a web based public and private school information and resource organization. Based on test scores, student/teacher ratios, other useful metrics and information collected from parents, students, teachers and other users, SchoolDigger rates and ranks over 120,000 elementary, middle, and high schools in the United States by school districts and local boundaries. Maryland is currently rated 32nd in the nation for School Quality. Of the 24 Maryland Public School Systems in Maryland SchoolDigger currently ranks Calvert County, 22 schools, first; Howard County, 72 schools, second; Carroll County, 41 schools, third; Frederick County, 56 schools, fifth; Montgomery County, 287 schools 17th; and Prince George County, 173 schools 22nd.

Montgomery Village student population attend seven Montgomery County Public Schools; Watkins Mill High School, Montgomery Village Middle School, Neelsville Middle School, South Lake Elementary School, Stedwick Elementary School, Watkins Mill Elementary School and Whetstone Elementary School.

In 2014 Watkins Mill High School ranked 153 out of the 183 Maryland public high schools in the 16.4 percentile and 26 among the 27 Montgomery County high schools earning a one star out of five rating by SchoolDigger. In 2005 WMHS was in the 44.3 percentile with a two star rating.

U.S. News & World Report annually rates the best public high schools of the 19,400 nation’s high schools based on college readiness, algebra and English proficiency. The top 10 High Schools in Virginia are located in Northern Virginia including number one ranked in the nation Thomas Jefferson High for Science and Technology, Alexandria (1), George Mason High School, Falls Church (76), James Madison High School Vienna (93), Langley High School McLean, (96), Oaktown High School McLean (97), McLean High School, McLean (122), W .T. Woodson High School Fairfax (129), Yorktown high School, Arlington (177), Dominion High School, Sterling (326), Chantilly High School Chantilly (345).

Montgomery County Maryland included eight High Schools in the top 500 high schools; Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda (61), Thomas Wootton High School Rockville (65), Poolesville High School, Poolesville (96), Richard Montgomery High School, Rockville (163), Quince Orchard, High School, Gaithersburg (176), Colonel Zadok Marguder High School, Rockville (319), Potomac Falls High School, Potomac (345), and Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Spring (389). Watkins Mill received lowest College Readiness & Proficiency scores of the other Montgomery County high schools.

Two schools in the District of Columbia, School Without Walls High School (123) and Benjamin Banneker Academic High School (495) and three from Howard County Maryland, River Hill High School Clarksville (305), Centennial High School Ellicott City (342) and Mount Hebron High School in Elliott City 439 made the top 500 U.S.News & World Report 2014 best public high schools.

Montgomery Village Middle Schools Montgomery Village Middle School & Neelsville Middle School.

In 2014 Montgomery Village Middle School ranked 217th of the 267 Maryland Middle School, a percentile of 18.7% up from a 3.9% in 2013, and ranked 37 among the 38 Middle School Schools in the Montgomery County School District with a one star rating. In 2004 MVMS earned a two star rating.

In 2014 Neelsville Middle School ranks 224 of 267 Maryland Public Schools, a 16.1 percentile, up from 5.2 percentile in 2013 and ranks last among the 38 Middle Schools in the Montgomery Country School District with a one star rating. In 2005 NMS earned a two star rating.

The Montgomery Village Elementary Schools are South Lake ElementarySchool. Stedwick Elementary School, Watkins Mill Elementary School and Whetstone Elementary School.

In 2014 South Lake Elementary School ranks 731 among the 813 Maryland Public Schools, a 10.1% percentile with a one star rating. It ranked 121 among 122 elementary schools in Montgomery County. In 2004 South Lake ranked 409 of 793 Maryland elementary schools a 48.4% percentile with a two star rating.

In 2014 Stedwick Elementary School ranks 681 among 813 Maryland public elementary schools, a 16.2% percentile with a one star rating. It also ranked 110 among the 122 elementary schools in the Montgomery County. In 2006 Stedwick Elementary School ranked in 51.1% percentile statewide with a three star rating.

In 2014 Watkins Mill Elementary School ranks 687 of 813 Maryland ranked elementary schools in the 15.5% percentile, up from 1.9% in 2013 with a one star rating. It ranks 112 among the 122 ranked Montgomery County elementary schools. In 2004 Watkins Mill Elementary School had a 61.0% statewide percentile ranking with a three star rating.

In 2014 Whetstone Elementary School ranked 631 of 813 Maryland Public elementary schools, a 22.4% percentile with a one star rating. It ranked 104 among the 122 Montgomery County elementary schools. In 2006 Whetstone Elementary School had a statewide percentile ranking of 62.2% with a three star rating.

Summary comparison of the above seven Montgomery Village County Schools from 1989 to 2014

In 1989 the seven Montgomery Village schools had an enrollment of 6,334 students, 3,524 (55.6%) White, 892 African American (14.1%), 406 Asian (8.5%), and 353 Hispanic (5.7%) with 11.9 % participating in the School lunch program. In 2014 the enrollment is 5,517 students, 642 White (11.6%), 1,926 African American (34.9%), 537 Asian (9,7%), 2,306 Hispanic (41.2%), 258 Mixed (5.7%) with 59.0% participating in the School lunch program.

Over the last 25 years and especially since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, there has been a continuous decline in education ratings and ranking of Maryland and Montgomery County School Systems. Currently, Maryland ranked 16th in the nation for school system quality but only 27th in terms of safety and education by WalletHub and rated 32nd in the nation for School Quality by SchoolDigger. Of the 24 Maryland Public School Systems in Maryland SchoolDigger currently ranks Montgomery County School17th. Watkins Mill received lowest College Readiness & Proficiency scores of the other Montgomery County high schools by U.S. News & World Report and 26 among the 27 Montgomery County high schools by SchoolDigger. The Montgomery Village Middle Schools Montgomery Village Middle School & Neelsville Middle School rank 37 and 38 respectively among the 38 Montgomery County Middle School by SchoolDigger. Of the Montgomery Village Elementary Schools, South Lake Elementary School, Stedwick Elementary School, Watkins Mill Elementary School and Whetstone Elementary School rank 121,110, 112 and 104 respectively among the 122 Montgomery County Elementary Schools.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education.

The National School Lunch Program, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act is a United States federal law that created the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to provide low-cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through subsidies to schools. It serves 30.5 million children each day at a cost of $8.7 billion for fiscal year 2007. Most participants are also eligible for food during the summer through the Summer Food Service Program.

In the race for Governor of Maryland between Lt. Governor Anthony Brown (D) and Larry Hogan (R) the only educational issue under discussion was the expansion of pre-kindergarten for four year olds. As reported in the Washington Post on June 25 2014, “Lt Gov Anthony Brown has made expanding pre-Kindergarten 4 year olds as a centerpiece of his campaign. There are roughly 75,000 4 year olds in Maryland with 30,000 enrolled in public half day-classes. Brown has pledged to double the enrollment to 60,000 and expand to a full day pre-K by 2018 at an annual cost of $138 million funded by the state’s casino revenues”. Larry Hogan in the most recent debate between the candidates opposes Brown’s plan to finance pre-Kindergarten expansion with casino revenues instead of more critical state educational needs. By law casino funds are pledged to school programs.

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett in his announcement to run for a third term in 2014 stated, “The most important investment we make is in our nearly 150,000 public school students. Even during our most challenging fiscal years I strongly supported the needs of the Montgomery County Public Schools. I also continued to provide additional assistance for the most vulnerable in our midst”. The most vulnerable of public school students in our midst live and are schooled in unsafe Montgomery Village. The Maryland, Montgomery County and Montgomery Village governmental institutions have failed its 5,517 Montgomery Village Elementary, Middle and High School students. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is not working in Montgomery Village.