Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools released test data that shows a majority of its students scored at levels that were not 鈥渕eeting expectations鈥� on standardized tests in English and math.
During the Maryland-school system’s second quarter last year, 76% of tested students earned scores that were not 鈥渕eeting expectations鈥� in reading, English and language arts, and 95% of students earned scores that were not 鈥渕eeting expectations鈥� in math.
Chief Accountability Officer Dr. Douglas Strader presented the testing data to the county’s Board of Education.
Student test scores came from the county鈥檚 鈥渂enchmark assessments,鈥� which the county issues for two subjects, English and math. Dr. Strader called the 鈥渂enchmark assessments鈥� the 鈥渃ornerstone of our assessment program.鈥�
The reading, English and language arts tests evaluated students in grades three through 12, and the math tests evaluated students in grades K-12.
Data gathered from county tests administered in the second quarter of 2021 show that 19% of students’ scores were 鈥渂elow expectations,鈥� and 57% were 鈥渁pproaching expectations鈥� on English tests. The data also shows that 56% of students’ scores were 鈥渂elow expectations鈥� and 39% were 鈥渁pproaching expectations鈥� on math tests.
鈥淭he assessments are expected to be formative in nature. The items themselves are designed to test the outer limits of that particular instructional window. We don鈥檛 have items discussing the entire continuum,鈥� Dr. Strader said at the meeting. 鈥淚nstead, it鈥檚 really about, ‘did the students meet the targets?’鈥�
