While there is great attention given these days to the “Common Core” evaluation of public schools, the Maryland School Progress Index (SPI) is the state’s new primary tool to determine how well a school is doing in its quest to improve overall progress based on each school’s individual goals and objectives.
The SPI is a new accountability system that helps educators gauge how well a school is progressing in its quest to improve performance for all students. The yardstick for every school is set against its own ability to reduce in half in six years the portion of students not achieving proficiency, with annual improvement targets set for every school and every subgroup individually.
Stephan Shumaker says
Here’s a neat Kent County education story: received today a note from the KCMS Principal that my daughter will fail this semester due to unexcused absences. A few points: A) my daughter is a mostly A student who last week was awarded a first and fourth place in two events at the Science Olympiad state finals- contributing to a second-in-the-state ranking for Kent County Middle School. B) my wife phoned in notify of the absences (for a trip) and both my daughter and my wife cleared the absences with teachers and collected the assignments and classwork prior to the trip.
No doubt KCMS will amend their standings in the Science Olympiad to reflect the scores without the truant, failing, (and therefore clearly ineligible) child.
Seriously- with the many problems this school district faces, this is the student the KCMS decides to take to task?