Trends in School Readiness and the Effect of PGCPS Prekindergarten Participation, SY15-SY22
2021 PGCPS INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE PROGRAMME - CAMP IB SUMMER BRIDGE
The First Steps to Success Program is a summer bridge program for newly registered Aerospace Engineering & Aviation Technology and Science & Technology students. It is a by-invitation only program designed to assist incoming Aerospace Engineering & Aviation Technology and Science & Technology students with the transition into their respective specialty programs. Students will participate in science, math, technology, and study skills sessions. This virtual program will provide students with an opportunity to work with future classmates and teachers and prepare for the rigor and pace of high school.
The Covid-19 pandemic profoundly affected the Prince George's County Public School (PGCPS) community. Its full impact, which will be long lasting, is likely beyond measure. Still, the data presented in this brief begin to suggest its effect on PGCPS.
The Out-of-School Suspensions and Expulsions in PGCPS brief presents data on the out-of-school suspensions and expulsions in Prince George’s County School District from 2016 to 2018.
The results of this linking study provide information on how to use MAP-R data to adjust instruction and to provide the needed supports for students whose MAP-R performance is indicative of being at risk for not attaining college and career readiness scores on PARCC.
Publication Year: 2019
Abstract
The results of this linking study provide information on how to use MAP-R data to adjust instruction and to provide the needed supports for students whose MAP-R performance is indicative of being at risk for not attaining college and career readiness scores on PARCC. Results from the correlation analyses indicate a strong positive relationship between MAP-R and PARCC ELA test scores across assessment periods among students in Grades 3 through 8.
This study focuses on the relatively short-term effect of the French Immersion Program in elementary and middle school grades as well as the program's long-term effects as students go through high school.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
Since the French Immersion program has been operating in the school district for decades, PGCPS decision-makers are interested in the impact of attending a French Immersion school.The current study focused on the impact of attending a French Immersion school at grade 3, grade 5, grade 8, and grade 11. To address the research questions, we used SY15-SY16 enrollment data to create the analytical samples and French Immersion lottery participation data across several years, starting in SY05, as a proxy for parental motivation. PARCC ELA and math data, MSA science data, and Maryland State’s College and Career Readiness (CCR) report data were used to measure the outcomes. To estimate the impacts of French Immersion experience on PARCC proficiency rate for each grade, we used the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) model. The findings from the Grade 3, Grade 5, and Grade 8 treatment effect analysis show a consistent pattern of positive impact (measured in differentials in the percent proficient) of French Immersion enrollment across grade levels in ELA, mathematics, and science. The results demonstrate that the size of the impact progressively increased as students moved though elementary and middle school. These findings are important given that French Immersion students study mathematics and science in French through grade 8 and they do not start learning in the English language until grade 2. The findings from the Grade 11 treatment effect analysis show that high school students who had attended French Immersion program were better prepared for college and career than similar students who attended traditional elementary and middle schools in PGCPS. The findings confirmed that the impact of French Immersion sustained long after students graduated from the program.
This study focuses on the relatively short-term effect of the Montessori Program in elementary and middle school grades as well as the program's long-term effects as students go through high school.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
Having been an established program for quite some time now, PGCPS decision-makers are interested in the impact of attending a Montessori school.The current study focused on the impact of attending a Montessori school at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11. To address the research questions, we used SY15-SY16 enrollment data to create the analytical samples and Montessori lottery participation data across several years, starting in SY02, as a proxy for parental motivation. PARCC ELA and math data, MSA science data, and Maryland State’s College and Career Readiness (CCR) report data were used for the outcomes. To estimate the impacts of Montessori experience on PARCC proficiency rate for each grade, we used the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) model. The findings from the Grade 3, Grade 5, and Grade 8 treatment effect analysis show a consistent pattern of impact of Montessori enrollment across grade levels in ELA, mathematics, and science. The results demonstrate that the size of the impact progressively increased as students moved though elementary and middle school. The findings from the treatment effect for Grade 11 analysis show that high school students who had attended Montessori program demonstrated higher rates of readiness for college and career in reading and they were as prepared as their peers for college and career in mathematics. Thus, the study confirmed that the impact of Montessori in reading sustained long after the students graduated from the program but there is no evidence to suggest that was the case for mathematics. Nevertheless, Montessori educated students were as prepared in mathematics as their peers and this is a sign that they adjusted very well to high school mathematics instruction in spite of the different instructional method in mathematics that they received until the 8th grade.
The goal of this study was to examine the factors that contribute to under-enrollment of TAG centers in Grade 2 and to examine the achievement of TAG students at the end of Grade 5.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the factors that contribute to under-enrollment of TAG centers in Grade 2 and to examine the achievement of TAG students at the end of Grade 5. TAG center lottery application and placement data, enrollment data, achievement data, and data from a survey administered to TAG parents were used to address the research questions. The findings from the study indicate that the main source of under-enrollment in the TAG centers is the declining number of the applicant pool (i.e., TAG-identified students), especially in SY16. The failure to meet post lottery deadlines is a second source of under-enrollment, as 17 percent and 13 percent of parents whose students were offered a seat in a TAG center missed deadlines to accept placement in SY15 and SY16, respectively. Over a third of the parents who responded to the survey reported that they have never applied to a TAG center lottery. The survey data indicates that low participation in the TAG center lottery can be attributed to lack of awareness and information about the TAG center as well as a lack of interest in the TAG center because they prefer the neighborhood school, the TAG center is too far, or the desire to not separate siblings. The results from the achievement analyses indicate that students who are identified in Grade 1 and receive TAG services are equally prepared for middle school regardless of whether they receive TAG services in a center or in a their neighborhood school. The results also demonstrated that students who enroll in a center in Grades 3 and 4 were equally prepared for middle school as those who enroll in a center in Grade 2. Based on the findings presented in this report, we make several recommendations to improve the TAG center lottery process.
The goal of this study was to examine the trend of school readiness in PGCPS from SY2015 through SY2017 and the impact of participation in different PGCPS prekindergarten (pre-K) programs on school readiness.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the trend of school readiness in PGCPS from SY2015 through SY2017 and the impact of participation in different PGCPS prekindergarten (pre-K) programs on school readiness. Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) data from SY2015 through SY2017 and prekindergarten and Head start enrollment files from SY2014 through SY2016 were used to address the research questions. The findings showed that in SY2016 the district school-readiness rate increased to 38.3% from 34.4% in SY2015, a growth of 3.9 percentage points. In SY2017, however, the district school-readiness rate decreased to 34.3%, a decline of 4 percentage points. The study used the Average Treatment Effect (ATE) method to estimate the impact of PGCPS pre-K programs on school readiness. The findings from the analysis suggest that participation in a PGCPS prekindergarten program would result in higher school-readiness rates relative to non-participation in any PGCPS prekindergarten program. The program effect of participating PGCPS prekindergarten on school readiness was 9.8, 12.1, and 16.4 percentage points for the SY2015, SY2016, and SY2017 cohorts of incoming kindergarteners, respectively. In other words, the school-readiness rate in PGCPS would have been 39%, 44% and 41.1% in SY2015, SY2016 and SY2017, respectively, if all of the incoming kindergarten students had participated in PGCPS prekindergarten programs. The results from the analysis of the impact of different types of PGCPS pre-K programs further suggests that, for kindergarteners who attended PGCPS pre-K programs, school-readiness rates would have been higher by 6 to 7 percentage points had all participated in full-day pre-K or Head Start programs relative to participating in half-day pre-K. The conclusion, therefore, is that PGCPS prekindergarten programs do a better job of preparing children for school than other prekindergarten settings for incoming kindergarteners and PGCPS full-day prekindergarten and Head Start programs are better than PGCPS half-day programs at preparing children to be school-ready.
To assess the extent to which students, parents, and teachers perceive the district schools are conducive to learning, Research and Evaluation Unit (R&E) within the Department of Testing, Research, and Evaluation (DTRE) conducted a survey during the spring of 2017.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
Since 2007, PGCPS has conducted a school climate survey on a biannual basis, which included participation of students, parents, and teachers. To assess the extent to which students, parents, and teachers perceive the district schools are conducive to learning, Research and Evaluation Unit (R&E) within the Department of Testing, Research, and Evaluation (DTRE) conducted a survey during the spring of 2017. Some of the factors about which stakeholders were asked to opine include school leadership, the level of safety in the schools, and parental involvement, which, when analyzed, reveal what the respondents think about their school’s overall climate. Overall, more than 48,000 responses were received from students (33,621), teachers (5,732), and parents (9,119). Analyses of survey data indicate that approximately 85% of the survey respondents perceive their schools as having a climate that is conducive to effective instruction and learning. When the data are disaggregated by subscale we find differences in the extent to which stakeholders view each positively. Of the subscales that all stakeholder groups were asked to express opinions, ‘High Expectations for all Students’ is viewed positively by 85% of stakeholders making it the subscale most often positively perceived. At the other extreme, only about 60% of stakeholders had positive opinions about ‘Effective Plant Operations’, which is related to the condition, and upkeep of buildings, facilities, and technology on school campuses. There is also a difference in how each stakeholder group perceives each subscale of school climate. Parents expressed positive perceptions about their schools more often than students or teachers. Lastly, the range of opinion about the climate within individual schools varies widely across the district.
This report presents findings from the spring 2017 survey of graduating seniors’ immediate plans following graduation and of their perceptions of school counseling they received while making those plans. Most of the PGCPS Class of 2017 plan to enroll in college following graduation.
Publication Year: 2017
Abstract
This report presents findings from the annual survey of graduating high school seniors from Prince George’s County Public Schools. Approximately 8,000 twelfth-graders were asked to opine about their high school experiences and to provide information about what they plan to do upon leaving high school. Nearly 91% of students participated in the survey with all socio-demographic groups being well-represented and responding in proportions similar to that of the graduating class as a whole. More than half of the students graduating from PGCPS in 2017 described as good or excellent the quality of instruction they received in each of five core subject areas. English instruction received the highest marks with nearly 80% describing it as good or excellent, whereas only 60% of graduates felt that way about the math instruction they received. Between 58 and 72% of graduates felt their high school did at least a good job of preparing them to meet some of the challenges they will face in the years to come, with nearly 41% of graduates expressing the opinion that their high school did a good job of preparing them for college and another 18% believing that it was excellent. Nearly one-half of the PGCPS class of 2017 plans to attend a four-year college, and about 23% expect to enroll in a two-year college. Another 12% will develop job skills while serving our country in the military (7.2%) or participating in an apprenticeship or job-training program (4.6%), while about 8% will seek full-time employment.
This study examines how the Literacy Coaching model was implemented in the six pilot schools in SY2015-16.
Publication Year: 2016
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine how the Literacy Coaching model was implemented in the six pilot schools in SY2015-16. To address the research questions, data were gathered from documents provided by the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I), surveys collected in June 2016 from teachers and Literacy Coaches, group discussions with Literacy Coaches and school observations by Research and Evaluation. Literacy Coaches reported that 38% of their total time in SY2015-16 was spent on activities related to the administration of the Literacy Task, 21% on content-specific PDs, 18% on supporting teachers one-on-one, and 9% on providing school wide PDs. The total number of teachers who administered the Literacy Task was 402 (or 70% of classroom teachers). Over 90% of teachers who administered the Literacy task taught all three components of the task: unlocking the prompt, close reading and essay writing. As a result of the implementation of the Literacy Task and the support from the Literacy Coaches, three-fourths of teachers report that they have become more purposeful in their activities for unlocking reading text.Two-thirds of Literacy Coaches report that they are very satisfied with the support they received from C&I, while half of the Coaches report that they are very satisfied with the support they received from the school administration. Overall, teachers feel that the Literacy Coach model helped improve teachers’ instructional practices and students’ learning habits. This positive perception notwithstanding, Literacy Coaches identified two major challenges. These are: lack of buy-in from teachers and lack of school staff understanding of the Literacy Coach role. Literacy Coaches and teachers recommend improvements of the relevancy of the Literacy Task topics and the scoring rubric for the Literacy Task.
This report presents the differential patterns of growth in reading skills among PGCPS' students from kindergarten to third grade.
Publication Year: 2015
Abstract
The study is based on longitudinal data for a cohort that was followed through administrative data from kindergarten (2009-10) through the end of third-grade (2012-13). The report focuses on the typical pattern of growth in reading and examines differential patterns of growth among subgroups of students. The research finds that the average student grew more than would be expected in kindergarten but the rate of growth started slowing down in the first grade. The slowing down of the rate of growth resulted in the average student falling below-grade expectation in second grade. In the third grade, the rate of growth recovered slightly. Nevertheless, the average student’s reading ability was below expectation at the end of the school year in third-grade. The slumping of growth occurred from the middle of the first–grade through end of second-grade, with slight variations in the onset and degree of the slump for various groups of students. The study also identified six unique developmental groups. A common characteristic of students who read proficiently by the end of the third-grade was that they recovered earlier and at higher rates from the observed slumping of the rate of growth. The predictors of end of third grade underperformance were falling below the expected path of proficiency early in the trajectory or a delayed recovery that started late in third grade. The findings also indicate that students who were ready for school in the domains of language and literacy at kindergarten experienced smaller slump of growth. Students who were ELL or SPED at kindergarten experienced higher deceleration of the rate of growth. In sum, the typical pattern of growth of the sample shows a rapid acquisition of the basic skills during the stages of emergent and early reader followed by a decline in the rate of progress during the transitional reader stage and some recovery of the rate of progress in the third grade.
