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Worcester County reports top MCAP proficiency, data team highlights results and poverty analysis
Summary
County staff presented 2025 MCAP results showing Worcester County Public Schools outperforming statewide averages and shared a poverty‑adjusted analysis that staff said places the district well above statistical expectations.
WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. — Worcester County Public Schools officials on Tuesday presented statewide 2025 MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program) results showing the district among the highest performing in Maryland and described internal analyses that, according to staff, place most local schools well above expected performance given local poverty levels.
In a presentation to the Board of Education, Jen McDowell, local accountability coordinator, and Tom Hamill, a district data staff member, reviewed proficiency rates and growth across grades 3–10. Hamill told the board the district “is still performing number 1 in the state of Maryland at 68.5% proficiency,” and showed cohort and grade‑by‑grade charts that compared Worcester County to statewide results.
Why it matters: MCAP proficiency rates affect school improvement planning, state accountability discussions and local instructional priorities. Board members pressed for next steps on grades that lag the county trend and for materials shared with parents.
Hamill and McDowell emphasized that Worcester County outperformed the state in most grades and subjects but noted areas for targeted work: fifth grade and 10th grade ELA showed relative weakness compared with other grades. Hamill presented a longer statistical review that compared school proficiency to poverty rates across three years of state data; he said “in almost every case” Worcester schools fell well above the line of predicted performance given their free‑and‑reduced‑price‑meal (FARMS) percentages.
Superintendent Annette Wallace told the board the results reflect systemwide practices that identify students early and provide interventions. ‘‘When we know every single kid by name, strength and need, we can give them exactly what they need,’’ Wallace said, linking the MCAP results to the district’s emphasis on early literacy screening and multi‑tiered supports.
Board members asked district staff to provide the individual reports sent to parents and to share the district’s interactive charts publicly. Hamill said staff had created an HTML visualization of every Maryland school that district staff could publish and that he expected to present the team’s approach to the Maryland State Board later in December.
The presentation included these explicit next steps: maintain summer and early‑year intervention work, continue teacher implementation training on the adopted ELA materials, monitor MTSS/Tier 3 supports, and share parent report formats with the board.
Provenance: Presentation and data analysis were delivered to the board during the curriculum and MCAP agenda items and discussed during board Q&A.
