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Local News
The Calvert County Times
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Calvert Schools Get High
Ratings Under New System
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By Guy Leonard
Staff Writer
Under the state’s new ranking system
for schools where they can score between
one and five stars, no school in Calvert
County went below a score of three; most
ranked with either four or five stars.
According to the Maryland State De-
partment of Education’s latest rankings,
issued Tuesday, only two schools, Patux-
ent Appeal and St. Leonard elementary
schools got a three-star rating.
Northern, Huntingtown and Calvert
high schools all got a five-star rating;
Patuxent High School earned four stars.
The remaining elementary and middle
schools in Calvert all received either four
or five stars.
“Calvert County can feel proud of all
of its schools’ performance,” said Super-
intendent Dr. Daniel Curry. “This new
report card covers a ton of good data and
will shine light on some things that each
school can improve upon.”
The new rating system was designed to
give parents a concise view of how their
child’s school compared with others in
their own counties and around the state.
But the new rating system takes into
account more than testing and academic
improvement; it also measures the at-
tendance of students and the depth and
breadth of courses they can take at their
schools to come up with a star ranking.
Opinion surveys taken by both students
and faculty are also factored into the
school’s overall rating.
Academic achievement measured by
high stakes testing as well as student im-
provement over time makes up 65 percent
of a schools overall rating; the remaining
criteria make up 35 percent of the rating
metric.
“Our goal is to improve every school
throughout our State, and prepare every
student for a bright future,” said Dr. Karen
Salmon, State Superintendent of Schools.
“The new Maryland Report Card will
help parents, educators, policymakers,
and the general public gain a better un-
derstanding about how each school is do-
ing based on our accountability measures.
Together we are working toward making
CALVERT SCHOOL RATINGS
Elementary Schools
Patuxent Appeal - 3 stars
St. Leonard - 3 stars
Mutual - 4 stars
Dowell - 4 stars
Calvert - 4 stars
Barstow - 4 stars
Huntingtown - 5 stars
Plum Point - 5 stars
Beach - 4 stars
Mt. Harmony - 5 stars
Sunderland - 5 stars
Windy Hill - 4 stars
Middle Schools
Southern - 4 stars
Mill Creek - 4 stars
Calvert - 4 stars
Plum Point - 4 stars
Windy Hill - 5 stars
High Schools
Northern - 5 stars
Huntingtown - 5 stars
Calvert - 5 stars
Patuxent - 4 stars
sure our schools are the best they can be.”
Gov. Larry Hogan said the new rating
system will improve transparency of how
well schools are doing.
“Education is and will always remain
our number one priority, and we owe it
to Maryland families to provide them
with as much information as possible to
make informed decisions about their chil-
dren’s’ education,” said Governor Larry
Hogan. “The new Maryland Report Card
will provide parents, teachers, and stu-
dents with critical information about our
schools and enhance transparency and ac-
countability in our education system.”
This year’s ratings were based partially
on the PARCC assessments taken by stu-
dents; this test will be abandoned by the
end of this school year and be replaced by
an as-yet unknown assessments.
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