TCPS One of Few in MD with 3-plus Stars for All Its Schools in Latest Report

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has released the 2023 Maryland School Report Card. The report card contains data for every school in the state, including, the eight schools in Talbot County.

Schools earn between one and five stars based on the total percentage of points earned across several indicators. For elementary and middle schools, the indicators are: Academic Achievement, Academic Progress, Progress in Achieving English Language Proficiency, and School Quality and Student Success. For high schools, the indicators are Academic Achievement, Graduation Rate, Progress in Achieving English Language Proficiency, Readiness for Postsecondary Success, and School Quality and Student Success. 

Talbot County Public Schools presented an overview of this year’s reports to the Board of Education at the December meeting, following MSDE’s release of the ratings earlier that day.  Dr. Helga Einhorn, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching, Learning & Leading, shared that there were three changes from the prior year that have impacted this year’s report cards. “In addition to the new eighth-grade social studies assessment in the Academic Progress indicator for middle schools, the elementary and middle school Academic Growth measure and Chronic Absenteeism at all school levels returned to pre-pandemic methods of calculation,” she explained. 

“This has had an impact on TCPS and all school systems across the state,” she added. “I want to reiterate the caution that we should not be looking at a direct comparison to the last star ratings; this is a baseline for moving forward in monitoring our progress.”  Dr. Einhorn explained that the report cards “provide valuable measures for identifying areas for school improvement” and attributed the successes in some indicators to “the dedicated efforts of TCPS teachers and school administration.”  Dr. Einhorn also noted that Talbot County Public Schools (TCPS) is one of only eight districts out of the 24 in Maryland that earned star ratings of three or higher for all schools.

The School Report Card is designed to give students, families, educators, and community members a better understanding of school performance, just as report cards help parents understand how children are performing. The goal of the school report card is to provide easy-to-understand and concise information for each school. Parents and community members can explore the Maryland Report Card website https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/ for more information and data. The School Report Card for each school can be found there, as well as more information and data about schools and districts.