HCPSS MPIA Request #2021-232

Responsive to this request, please find attached available counts of students per school who are one or more grade levels behind in reading at the elementary and secondary levels, similar to data pulled and per indicators noted in the documents provided under MPIA 2020-009, MPIA 2019-029 and per the data parameters included in the attached file notes. Please note, SY2018-2019 data is available under the prior MPIA response data, and SY2020-2021 is based on 2nd quarter rather than End of Year/Q4. 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 must protect against the potential disclosures of personally identifiable information about students. In accordance, HCPSS follows the Maryland State Department of Education and the National Center for Education Statistics’ guidelines for protecting student privacy in public reporting and suppresses the following from responsive records: populations that fall below 10; percentages that are less than or equal to 5, or greater than or equal to 95; categories directly related to specific student records; and/or information that, when combined with other publicly accessible data, can reasonably identify an individual student or reveals information from an individual student’s record. 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.