Wicomico ranks DEAD LAST as a county in HSA passing percentage

The Maryland State Board of Education voted today to keep the High School Assessment tests as a graduation requirement. From The Baltimore Sun:

The state school board voted today to continue to require that Maryland's high school seniors must earn a minimum score on state graduation exams or complete projects to earn a diploma this spring.

The board voted 7-4 this afternoon to deny a motion that would have delayed the requirement.

According to data presented at the board meeting this morning, nine in 10 of the state's high school seniors who have taken the state High School Assessments have met the requirements needed to graduate.

Uh, yeah, about that 9 in 10 figure. Not so much, if you're looking at Wicomico County. It's more like 15 in 20 here. Only 75% of Wicomico County's seniors have passed the requirements.

Let's look at the Eastern Shore counties (and Baltimore City, just to boost our self-esteem):

There's no spin to be put on this one. There's no extenuating circumstances we can argue to justify that number. We're just not getting it done.

I see the work our teachers at my high school put into this. Teachers are giving up free periods to mentor students with the Bridge program, the alternate way to graduate if you don't pass the HSAs.The Board of Education offers after-school and weekend remediation for those who haven't passed the HSA testing. Teachers are staying late, coming in early, and even offering help on weekends. Some of the time, like the structured remediation classes, are paid. But most of the time is not.

It's gotten to the point that math teachers are handed a curriculum that has benchmarks several times each marking period, to the point that each day's instruction is almost mapped out by the county. And it's not working.

When Somerset County is out-performing Wicomico by 8 percent, and Cecil County, with more students, is outperforming us by 14 percent, it's obvious there's a problem.

Something's got to be done. I personally think it starts with reinforcing, again and again, to the students that if you don't pass your HSAs, you will not graduate. Maybe, just maybe, seniors learning the lesson the hard way this year will spike the numbers north in years to come.

But we have to take a hard look at what we're doing, WHY it isn't working, and what we're going to do differently. Because 75% of our seniors on track to graduate is simply not acceptable.

P.S. - Can ANYONE get Blogger to play nice with tables?