Does anyone like Curriculum 2.0?

[Anonymous]

If the teacher had to water down the class to meet the needs of the accelerated students - it begs the question - were those kids actually "accelerated" or not.

Exactly..2/3rd were not 2 year accelerated. There was just a push to accelerate from above so MCPS could have good numbers for kids hitting algebra in 7th grade. People got used to hearing about how their child has accelerated/gifted/ahead. It is less exciting to have an on grade level child..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Its a mistake to believe that there are tons of science/math careers out there that need students that overachieved in those areas. The jobs in those fields are extremely small and for the most part they are not well paying.

Wow, nothing could be farther from the truth. The top paying jobs are dominated by science and engineering. The skill shortage is so bad in this country that the HB-1 visa quota is filled in a days. It is crazy to keep focusing on skills that lead a zillion liberal arts and communication majors.

What you are saying has no basis in reality. If you work in a science field, jobs are concentrated in a handful of areas in the country. The competition for those jobs is intense so there are very few openings. I know plenty of PHD's doing the same job with the same salary as a person with a bachelors degree because there are simply not enough jobs to go around in the field.

Do you have any idea what they are paying these foreign post docs? PEANUTS! If it was true that Scientists made so much money and the demand for the jobs was so intense you would see Americans jump to get this type of degree but its not true. Go to Washington post right now and search for jobs as a Scientist and see how many positions pop up.

[Anonymous]

Its a mistake to believe that there are tons of science/math careers out there that need students that overachieved in those areas. The jobs in those fields are extremely small and for the most part they are not well paying.

The top paying jobs reward lying, deception, stealing and other white collar crime. No need for brains only tradition and pedigree.

[Anonymous]

If the teacher had to water down the class to meet the needs of the accelerated students - it begs the question - were those kids actually "accelerated" or not.

Exactly..2/3rd were not 2 year accelerated. There was just a push to accelerate from above so MCPS could have good numbers for kids hitting algebra in 7th grade. People got used to hearing about how their child has accelerated/gifted/ahead. It is less exciting to have an on grade level child..

No one is advocating watering down classes. This deception has nothing to do all with advancing able and willing students that have already mastered the subject material. Absolutely nothing at all. Is this another subject?

[Anonymous]

The flaw to that arguement is that MCPS had lots of math acceleration and they were not successful with it. That is why there is a backlash now. The majority of kids (2/3s's) in my socs ES were 2 year ahead in math (heading for 7th grade algebra). The MS and HS teacher were forced to water down their classes to accomodate these advanced students who were accelerated right past the basic skills. Depsite the fact that we all think our kids need acceleration and are bored. Learning basic facts can be boring. For the few kids who are truely ready..doesn't seem like MCPS has the reasources to run a class for only a few kids...and that is a shame.

Hogwash. The flaw has nothing to do with advancing able and willing students who have mastered the subject material. The flaw was with the teaching and the mandate that less than able, capable and willing students were accelerated.

Acceleration was not the flaw. The flaw was the watered down curriculum and moving some kids ahead who were not ready because of pressure to accelerate 40% of students by mandate or policy (yet another blunder). I'm sure at least a quarter of the 40 percent were ready to move forward and have not suffered any ill effects from acceleration.
Either the 40 % mandate was stupid policy, MCPS teachers of mathematics are incompetent and can't make accurate assessments about mastery, or both.

[Anonymous]

But think of all the parents here who are quite sure their children need acceleration. That is part of what leads to the push for acceleration for all.

[Anonymous]

But think of all the parents here who are quite sure their children need acceleration. That is part of what leads to the push for acceleration for all.

Another hogwash irrelevant argument. I'm sure every parent wants their child to graduate Phi Beta Kappa or become Michael Phelps? Nothing wrong with this. But, what educational expert uses this pressure to water down requirements and fill the Phi Beta Kappa and Olympic teams with individuals who don't make the cut?

If competent teachers can't make valid assessments of their students based on their contact, teaching, and assessments (both outside and inside--dependent and independent) of the knowledge base we certainly do have a problem.

The problem is not the kids or parents. It's with MCPS. They have a problem if they do not have an evaluative process to adjudicate the demands of parents and students. Simply waving their hands and banning all advancement because of their incompetence and laziness will not suffice. Get a process for evaluating the math ability of kids. Has MCPS heard of an examination or test (oral and/or wriitten) that can evaluate this competence to help make this decision? This might make a up an important component of whether a kid is ready or not? In my experience MCPS avoids this approach in favor of stalling and will delay, delay until parents get up in arms. It seems OK to give the kids MSA tests but they don't have an assessment in Algebra, Geometry, Prealgebra, etc to help assess where kids are at the start of the year to help determine which kids may benefit from moving forward rather than repeating material already mastered. Amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

But think of all the parents here who are quite sure their children need acceleration. That is part of what leads to the push for acceleration for all.

Another hogwash irrelevant argument. I'm sure every parent wants their child to graduate Phi Beta Kappa or become Michael Phelps? Nothing wrong with this. But, what educational expert uses this pressure to water down requirements and fill the Phi Beta Kappa and Olympic teams with individuals who don't make the cut?

If competent teachers can't make valid assessments of their students based on their contact, teaching, and assessments (both outside and inside--dependent and independent) of the knowledge base we certainly do have a problem.

The problem is not the kids or parents. It's with MCPS. They have a problem if they do not have an evaluative process to adjudicate the demands of parents and students. Simply waving their hands and banning all advancement because of their incompetence and laziness will not suffice. Get a process for evaluating the math ability of kids. Has MCPS heard of an examination or test (oral and/or wriitten) that can evaluate this competence to help make this decision? This might make a up an important component of whether a kid is ready or not? In my experience MCPS avoids this approach in favor of stalling and will delay, delay until parents get up in arms. It seems OK to give the kids MSA tests but they don't have an assessment in Algebra, Geometry, Prealgebra, etc to help assess where kids are at the start of the year to help determine which kids may benefit from moving forward rather than repeating material already mastered. Amazing.

All I have to say is if you think assessing performance/potential is bad in school it has nothing on the work place. Its all a fashion show...

[Anonymous]

All I have to say is if you think assessing performance/potential is bad in school it has nothing on the work place. Its all a fashion show...

...some of us are wondering out aloud whether it's a facshion show in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Having 2 kids in green zoon schools and an immigrant. I believe the integrated class drains more energy from teacher (a teacher has to prepare teaching materials for kids in 7 different levels according to a recent Post article) and no one, doesn't matter if you are advanced or below the level, wins. My son knows the slow kids in his class because he help them in math classes (3rd grade). My extreme experimental model is to switch the students between a red and green school but not school building and teachers. My prediction is that the students will not change their perfomance. Integration itself will not change students' achivement. You need god teacher who are trained to focus on the special student group to bring the best of them. Integration just burns the teachers with too much work therefore reduces their productivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the pp and I'm only going to say one more thing because the anger on here is making me lose my faith in people. I think people should consider that Montgomery County schools is educating 70,000 elementary school students this year. They need to come up with a curriculum that serves all of them as well as they can. It seems like they may be choosing to make changes that benefit the vast majority of students, not focusing on that small percentage of parents on here whose kids are 2 years ahead in math.

I don't have an opinion on 2.0, but I agree with you. As parents, if we have that kid who can't thrive in the public sector, whose job it is to serve the masses, maybe we need to find alternatives for our kids. Parents of SN kids who fall on the other end of the curve face this all the time.

And yet, parents of SN kids have a legal right to a free and appropriate public education for their kids. Parents of SN kids can get services for their child if need be. GT or advanced kids have a right to nothing. If your child is ahead in a grade or subject area, the school can make them sit and twiddle their thumbs all year and there is nothing you can make the school do differently. I write this as the parent of a SN kid and a GT kid. While SN services are far from perfect, there is at least an attempt to educate. IME, this is not the case for academically advanced students who are forced to stay on grade level.

I am concerned about C2.0 and the lack of differentiation or advanced pathways. Our experience has been that teachers are not capable of delivering this differentiation within the classroom.

[Anonymous]

All tax payers and their children are entitled to a challenging education for all their children. To achieve this some children may need acceleration and some deceleration within the MCPS system. Of course, this may not be the bulk of children if children performance follows the Bell shaped curve. This is safe, simple and sound educational policy for the sane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having 2 kids in green zoon schools and an immigrant. I believe the integrated class drains more energy from teacher (a teacher has to prepare teaching materials for kids in 7 different levels according to a recent Post article) and no one, doesn't matter if you are advanced or below the level, wins. My son knows the slow kids in his class because he help them in math classes (3rd grade). My extreme experimental model is to switch the students between a red and green school but not school building and teachers. My prediction is that the students will not change their perfomance. Integration itself will not change students' achivement. You need god teacher who are trained to focus on the special student group to bring the best of them. Integration just burns the teachers with too much work therefore reduces their productivity.

Many students perform poorly because of environment. Why do parents at all costs try not to send their kids to the red zone schools? Its not because the teachers are poor its because the cultural norms or low income kids can influence their child. So it only stands to reason that low income students around all low income students are basically screwed. If they are around other kids with a higher cultural level they can observe and benefit from those students. Segregating the two groups accomplishes nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 2 kids in green zoon schools and an immigrant. I believe the integrated class drains more energy from teacher (a teacher has to prepare teaching materials for kids in 7 different levels according to a recent Post article) and no one, doesn't matter if you are advanced or below the level, wins. My son knows the slow kids in his class because he help them in math classes (3rd grade). My extreme experimental model is to switch the students between a red and green school but not school building and teachers. My prediction is that the students will not change their perfomance. Integration itself will not change students' achivement. You need god teacher who are trained to focus on the special student group to bring the best of them. Integration just burns the teachers with too much work therefore reduces their productivity.

Many students perform poorly because of environment. Why do parents at all costs try not to send their kids to the red zone schools? Its not because the teachers are poor its because the cultural norms or low income kids can influence their child. So it only stands to reason that low income students around all low income students are basically screwed. If they are around other kids with a higher cultural level they can observe and benefit from those students. Segregating the two groups accomplishes nothing.

Who says parents at all costs try not to send their kids to red zone schools? I know a lot of highly educated, affluent people who send their kids to red zone schools and speak highly of those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having 2 kids in green zoon schools and an immigrant. I believe the integrated class drains more energy from teacher (a teacher has to prepare teaching materials for kids in 7 different levels according to a recent Post article) and no one, doesn't matter if you are advanced or below the level, wins. My son knows the slow kids in his class because he help them in math classes (3rd grade). My extreme experimental model is to switch the students between a red and green school but not school building and teachers. My prediction is that the students will not change their perfomance. Integration itself will not change students' achivement. You need god teacher who are trained to focus on the special student group to bring the best of them. Integration just burns the teachers with too much work therefore reduces their productivity.

Many students perform poorly because of environment. Why do parents at all costs try not to send their kids to the red zone schools? Its not because the teachers are poor its because the cultural norms or low income kids can influence their child. So it only stands to reason that low income students around all low income students are basically screwed. If they are around other kids with a higher cultural level they can observe and benefit from those students. Segregating the two groups accomplishes nothing.

Who says parents at all costs try not to send their kids to red zone schools? I know a lot of highly educated, affluent people who send their kids to red zone schools and speak highly of those schools.

Just because you know parents who do, does not negate the fact that parents at all costs try not to send their kids to red zone schools. Nothing is absolute.