MONTGOMERY, Ala.- Montgomery Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Melvin J. Brown released the following statement regarding the 2022-2023 Alabama State Report Card. He is quoted by sharing the following:
“We acknowledge the current challenges reflected in our 2022-2023 Alabama State Report Card data and the urgency in which we need to address it. We anticipated our results and were not surprised by any of them. As referenced in our MPS State of the Schools address delivered in September, we have already begun to utilize our data to make stark and lasting changes to how we address this work. The most significant impact of our decline on the report card from a C to a D, results from points earned in the Graduation Rate and College and Career Readiness scores. For these two areas, the data reported in the 2022-2023 Report Card is actually from the school year 2021-2022, as it is reported a year in arrears. MPS has already improved those two indicators, which will appear on next year's report card. Our actual graduation rate in 2022-2023 increased 12 percent from 67.43 (as listed) to 79.39 (which will show up next year). Our actual CCR score in 2022-2023 increased 16 percent from 43.54 (as recorded) to 59.47 (which will show up next year after certification). Those factors alone demonstrate our overall improvement.
Effective retention of learning occurs when students can apply their classroom knowledge in real-life context, resulting in improved test scores. We acknowledge that this will not take place overnight and that we will continue to face challenges; however, steady, incremental improvement is an absolute expectation.
We have high expectations for ourselves, our district, and, most importantly, our students. We also insist that they have high expectations for themselves." Our strategic plan will soon be completed with specific metrics, milestones, and benchmarks that will allow us and our community to gauge our progress. We also intend to initiate a school and community-wide literacy campaign to demonstrate the importance of everyone playing a role in our students' achievement. We aim to ensure that all students meet their academic growth, attain and exceed proficiency, and are college and career-ready. "