I would like to request a copy of your district academic acceleration policy (if one exists) and acceleration procedures that guide school principals' decisions for advanced learners in grades K-5. This includes early entrance to K or 1, grade skipping, subject acceleration, and other forms of academic acceleration as defined by HCPSS. I would also like information (if collected) on the total number of students who were provided acceleration in the form of (1) early entrance to kindergarten, (2) early entrance to grade 1, (3) subject acceleration in reading, (4) subject acceleration in mathematics, (5) grade skipped (one year), or (6) radical acceleration (2 or more years) during the 2019-2020 academic year, with student demographic data (sex, age at time of acceleration, race, ethnicity, FARMS status, ELL status, and special education status- IEP/504). Thank you for your assistance.
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes
Under the MPIA process, and as advised in the Fourteenth Edition of the Maryland Public Information Act Manual created by Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General, an agency is only obligated to produce existing records and is not required to generate new data or summarize data. Information within HCPSS records regarding accelerated grade placements is specific to each student and not found within existing data/reports, thus would require access to and review of individual private student files, which are exempt from disclosure under both the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which restricts access to student records, and MPIA GP § 4-313, which prevents disclosure of school district records pertaining to individual students.
HCPSS has made substantial efforts to ensure the accuracy of this information; however, data collection and reporting is consistently subject to change. Please be mindful when comparing data as many variances can occur between reports based on date pulled, parameters used, categories included, etc.
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