Based upon the statistics you cite, the reason seems to be because black students and seniors at the schools are of low income status (black seniors only meet key 7 Research that shows the fact that students from disadvantaged homes do not do well as their peers from more advantaged households (this article references studies: http://goo.gl/OQ2kh).

So who should be fired? Josh Starr? The members of the BOE? The community superintendents and performance directors of the affected clusters? The teachers in those schools? All of the above? Last time I checked, none of those stakeholders had any control over the advantages or disadvantages of students at home.

Can MCPS do a better job at tying to make sure that out black, Latino, and FARMS students experience more success and readiness for careers and college? Certainly. Until society can level the differences between the haves and the haves not, closing the gap will just be a lot of talk and small to no gains.

Public schools have to take all students who come through their doors, regardless of their circumstances. To lay all of the blame for the failure of black students to perform at the same level as their white counterparts at the MCPS doorstep only creates more division and distracts the conversation from the real issue: the fact that not all children have the resources and support at home to support the work being done at school.

Yesterday, I participated in this conference:
http://tcf.org/events/2012/william-julius-wilsons-the-truly-disadvantaged-25-years-later. As I listened yesterday to the scholars it became clear to me we live in County that ought to know more about its own disadvantaged. Not suggesting we know nothing, but we do not know as much as we should. Take, for example, how we define poor in MCPS. Those are students participating in the Free and Reduced Meals program (FARMS). But the FARMS label is a gross indicator, and I would imagine that within the FARMS 'box' there is ldiversity—some families very poor and some working class ready to move into the middle class).

And I think finding out more seems possible. Read this paper:
http://tcf.org/publications/pdfs/housing-policy-is-school-policy-pdf/Schwartz.pdf . Regardless of the subject matter researched here, one this is clear—this researcher was able to go beyond simply defining County poor as FARMS participants. This researcher used income data, which I believe MCPS should be using to better describe its students.

Then of course, MCPS always fails to adequately use the data it has. I would really like to know if black seniors not participating in FARMS are more college ready than black seniors participating in FARMS. One would speculate that the non-FARMS populations would, on average, be better prepared for college, but currently we don’t know for what MCPS releases to the public.

I think the hyper-focus on test scores related to college readiness is misguided. Our school system seems to have lost many students who need more meaningful measures of progress -- meaningful to them, not just people sitting in offices far from the school campus. High schools should have more of a real-life connection for students who are not bound for four-years of college. MCPS has excellent vocational programs, internships for students and so many alternative programs that I can't keep track. Why do we keep insisting that SAT and ACT scores are the best measures of our students' worth? Let's expand and promote the excellent programs that already exist in the county -- and just maybe more kids will find that they actually like being in school and will want to go to college.

I worked in the county schools for three years as a substitute. What did I observe?

Black students were treated differently and allowed to engage in all types of behaviors without consequence. I observed black students refer to the white female teachers "white b***ches to their faces." When Security was called the Principals would call the parents who were for the most part very concerned. However, the next day the same student would be calling another white female a white "b***ch.

The black males walked down the hallways with the pants hanging down and had to be informed 20 times a day to pull them up. Just a waste of time.
The black female students would let out a string of profanities to any white school employee who dared talk to them. "You a dog was their favorite expression."

I even observed several black staff members get into violent shoving matches.

Hispanic male students had their problems but it was relegated to a smaller percentage. When confronted they would at least cooperate.

The black female teachers seemed the most squared away but they got little cooperation from the schools I worked in and I have to wonder how many simply give up.

I also observed a group of black students getting together and robbing Hispanic students. Very little was done until one of them assaulted one of the Assistant Principals. Even after that the response was inadequate.

Now Maryland has a state law prohibiting suspensions.

@ Joe

MCPS will never release any data related to FARMS status because, and I quote Larry Bowers MCPS COO, we don't verify financial information. Anyone can fill out a FARMS application - anyone - and MCPS will then code that student FARMS.

The below are from the end of the article:

"And yet at the end of the day, nothing bad ever happens to the adults who fail our black and poor students."

"Do we ever fire people anymore? And is anyone else sick and tired of nothing?"

Mr. Hawkins;

Perhaps it is the Black and poor students who are failing the adults and the school system as opposed to the adults failing to meet the educational needs of the students with whom you are concerned.

MCPS - Montgomery County Public Schools CHARGES STUDENTS $620 TAKE ONLINE COURSES DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR.

Where is the happy press release from the public relations department about how only the rich kids can take these classes and the FARMS kids are out of luck?

The Maryland Constitution guarantees ALL students a free public education. Denying students their right is a violation of the Constitution and DISCRIMINATION.

Those are optional. If you want to take them you should pay extra.

Students that don't care? And, they should care because why? When they are in a public school system that flat out discriminates against them exactly what kind of response to you expect? The students reflect that attitude of the administration.

What do you want the students to do when they are being charged to attend public school classes and they don't have the illegal fees? What illegal action would you like the students to take in response?

These are children and they are being scammed by adults.

And to make this clear - MCPS charged students to attend English, math, science, and social studies classes. Exactly WHICH of those classes are "optional"?

None. MCPS charged students to attend public school for over a decade. They even had a policy that said says they are charging students. The policy is STILL on the books! What do you expect the results to be when an entire generation of public school students are denied their right to a free public education? Do you expect the students to excel or drop out?

John Doe raises some good questions about MCPS asking parents for more income information. If I ran the world--I don't--I would definitely ask parents for more income information.

By the way. Another new item on the table. A new law requires Maryland residents to attend schools until they are 18. They were allowed to drop out at 16. Now the schools will have hundred of students who hate it but have no way out.