Office of the Superintendent of Schools
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Rockville, Maryland
April 28, 2003
MEMORANDUM
To:
Members of the Board of Education
From:
Jerry D. Weast, Superintendent of Schools
Subject:
Final Examination Performance in Relation to High School Assessments
We recently examined the relationship between performance on Montgomery County Public
Schools (MCPS) final examinations in June 2002 and performance on High School Assessments
(HSA) that year. The data are drawn from the following five subjects in which HSA were
administered in May 2002: Algebra 1; Geometry; Biology; English 1 (ninth grade); and
National, State, and Local Government (NSL). The analysis suggests that MCPS has rigorous
standards on its final examinations in these subjects relative to the performance of high school
students throughout the state of Maryland.
The results in Figure 1 (see Attachment) show the statewide percentile standing of students in the
five courses grouped by the marks the students received on the final examinations. Results are
shown for both honors and regular sections, because the final examinations differed between
those groups. In the regular sections of English 1 and NSL courses, students earning a “D” on
the final examination stood close to the 40th percentile among students throughout Maryland, and
in regular sections of Algebra 1, Geometry, and Biology, students who earned a “D” on the final
examination stood close to or above the 50th percentile among all students who took those
respective HSA in Maryland. Note that the statewide standing of students in the honors sections
was between 10 and 20 percentile points higher than that of students in the regular sections with
the same final examination mark. The statistical correlations between final examinations taken
in spring 2002 and the HSA taken in May 2002 were moderately strong, ranging from .60 to .70
depending on subject matter and regular/honors groups. These results confirm the conclusions
of Achieve, Inc. (reported to the Board on February 11, 2003) that, “Montgomery County’s
semester tests are high quality and align to both the district Frameworks and the state standards.
As a result, students who perform well on these tests are likely to perform well on the
corresponding state tests.”
JDW:jal
Attachment
Copy to:
Executive Staff
ATTACHMENT
100
100
90
90
80
80
Average HSA Percentile in Maryland
Average HSA Percentile in Maryland
Figure 1. Alignment Between High School Assessments and Final Examinations
From Semester 2, June 2002.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
N=
2643
996
935
676
222
E
D
C
B
A
70
60
50
40
30
20
Regular
10
Honors
0
N=
2500
90
80
80
Average HSA Percentile in Maryland
90
70
60
50
40
30
20
Regular
10
Honors
0
E
935
370
D
1017
C
937
675
1746
158
B
D
908
686
727
C
811
295
B
A
60
50
40
30
20
Regular
10
Honors
0
1198
N=
1392
E
Final Exam Mark (Sem. 2, Biology)
160
964
398
D
1304 1340
C
853
2170
109
B
Final Exam Mark (Sem. 2, English)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Regular
10
Honors
0
N=
572
70
A
Average HSA Percentile in Maryland
Average HSA Percentile in Maryland
100
247
532
Final Exam Mark (Sem. 2, Geometry)
100
2138
860
E
Final Exam Mark (Sem. 2, Algebra)
N=
605
1596
E
111
759
236
D
1088
C
812
964
1766
B
Final Exam Mark (Sem. 2, NSL)
329
1422
A
681
A