Your Thoughts on Montgomery County Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take complaints about the effects on curriculum 2.0 on 1st and 2d graders with a big grain of salt. Who cares if a 1st grader has less homework?

I wish the main complaint about 2.0 was less homework. Lack of rigor, lack of teaching time, less scope, too much repetition, lack of feedback, poor test scores, etc. come up way before homework changes.

Absolutely, too much repetition. Repetition is completely inappropriate in education. Plus, if you tell my kid something one time, my kid listens intently and then can do it perfectly, the very first time, no practice needed, on to the next new thing. I assume that everybody else's kids are like that too.

Actually my daughter generally can do it right after being shown it once. Of course, if you ask her to do it a month later she has no idea how to do it. Most kids who pick things up quickly also need repetition to make it stick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take complaints about the effects on curriculum 2.0 on 1st and 2d graders with a big grain of salt. Who cares if a 1st grader has less homework?

If they don't do homework in first grade, their work ethic will be lacking when they get to fourth grade, and it's time to do lots of homework to prepare for middle school, where there will be lots of homework because they need to get prepared for high school, where there will be lots of homework because that's how you can tell that it's a demanding, rigorous high school, and so in short, if a child doesn't do homework in first grade, that child is condemned to inescapable lifelong failure at the age of 6.

Thanks. I was afraid that having them do homework in lower elementary school was just going to burn them out before they ever got to the point when it was developmentally appropriate to do it, but I feel better now.

Not really any HW in the upper elementary years either. Not saying good or bad - just a fact. This past year DC in 4th grade had very minimal and not particularly useful HW. A spelling list every week or two. Write 4 sentences a week on somewhat random topics. Reading choice book or very short assigned chapters each night. Compacted math HW about 10-15 minutes at most.

[Anonymous]

2.0 for advanced students is a disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2.0 for advanced students is a disaster.

I disagree.

[Anonymous]

There are so many threads on this. On one thread someone posted that the only 2.0 supporters that they have encountered are part of the MCPS while the actual parents not affiliated with MCPS are the detractors. I really agree with this.

I've had the exact same experience and it makes the situation even more frustrating. There will just never be any improvement if MCPS keeps up this wall of denial. There can be no balanced discussion of what to do.

The Post article wash;t just about all the "P" grades what it really highlighted is how MCPS denies the existence of parent/student complaints. This is not acceptable for a school system designed to serve the citizens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many threads on this. On one thread someone posted that the only 2.0 supporters that they have encountered are part of the MCPS while the actual parents not affiliated with MCPS are the detractors. I really agree with this.

I've had the exact same experience and it makes the situation even more frustrating. There will just never be any improvement if MCPS keeps up this wall of denial. There can be no balanced discussion of what to do.

The Post article wash;t just about all the "P" grades what it really highlighted is how MCPS denies the existence of parent/student complaints. This is not acceptable for a school system designed to serve the citizens.

I assume you have met all the thousands of parents in MCPS. I think 2.0 has been great, we have a great school, and neither myself or my spouse works for MCPS.
We can have balanced discussion when people stop making blanket DUMBASS assertions that only MCPS employees can like 2.0. How asinine is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many threads on this. On one thread someone posted that the only 2.0 supporters that they have encountered are part of the MCPS while the actual parents not affiliated with MCPS are the detractors. I really agree with this.

I've had the exact same experience and it makes the situation even more frustrating. There will just never be any improvement if MCPS keeps up this wall of denial. There can be no balanced discussion of what to do.

The Post article wash;t just about all the "P" grades what it really highlighted is how MCPS denies the existence of parent/student complaints. This is not acceptable for a school system designed to serve the citizens.

Evidently you have not met me, or the PP at 12:53.

[Anonymous]

Or me..

[Anonymous]

I honestly have never spoken with another parent that supports 2.0 or likes the new grade report. All the school presentations are glowing about it yet the teachers off-line will share their frustrations. I've heard parents complain at PTA meetings and then the principal or teacher will defend 2.0 as a glowing wonderful system that everyone loves. The rest of the room disagrees and the meeting ends. This happens several times a year. Off-line the same teacher and principal will say the complete opposite and agree about the shortcomings.

Its a stark contrast between the parents and MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly have never spoken with another parent that supports 2.0 or likes the new grade report. All the school presentations are glowing about it yet the teachers off-line will share their frustrations. I've heard parents complain at PTA meetings and then the principal or teacher will defend 2.0 as a glowing wonderful system that everyone loves. The rest of the room disagrees and the meeting ends. This happens several times a year. Off-line the same teacher and principal will say the complete opposite and agree about the shortcomings.

Its a stark contrast between the parents and MCPS.

Nobody is saying that you have. The point is that even though you have never spoken with another parent who supports 2.0 or likes the new report card, there actually are such parents.

And yes, 2.0 is not perfect, and neither is the new report card. But it is really hard to talk about improvements and shortcomings in the face of "2.0 AND THE NEW REPORT CARD ARE THE WORST THINGS EVER, AND MCPS IS EVIL!"

[Anonymous]

Please also remember there were plenty of things to complain about before 2.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take complaints about the effects on curriculum 2.0 on 1st and 2d graders with a big grain of salt. Who cares if a 1st grader has less homework?

I wish the main complaint about 2.0 was less homework. Lack of rigor, lack of teaching time, less scope, too much repetition, lack of feedback, poor test scores, etc. come up way before homework changes.

Absolutely, too much repetition. Repetition is completely inappropriate in education. Plus, if you tell my kid something one time, my kid listens intently and then can do it perfectly, the very first time, no practice needed, on to the next new thing. I assume that everybody else's kids are like that too.

Good for your kid. Not every child is like that. We need repetition but once it is mastered the they get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take complaints about the effects on curriculum 2.0 on 1st and 2d graders with a big grain of salt. Who cares if a 1st grader has less homework?

I wish the main complaint about 2.0 was less homework. Lack of rigor, lack of teaching time, less scope, too much repetition, lack of feedback, poor test scores, etc. come up way before homework changes.

1st and 2d graders don't take standardized tests. I'm not really sure how 2.0 results in less teaching time, and I am sceptical it is meaningfully less rigorous or has too much repetition at those grades. (The complaints I've heard about repetition were related to adjusting to 2.0, not what 1st/2d graders experience in 2.0).

Most parents do not consider group work to be active teaching. Not in first grade and not in 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

My thoughts are theyare lackluster, robotic, never thinking outside-the-box school district. More busy work than teaching because they don't track the kids. Smarter reading groups get ignored the most and kids as young as 5 who don't conform to sitting at a desk reading or doing worksheets are considered problem kids. The curriculum is mind boggling, the report cards useless, very little arts/music and paltry 30min of indoor PE a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take complaints about the effects on curriculum 2.0 on 1st and 2d graders with a big grain of salt. Who cares if a 1st grader has less homework?

I wish the main complaint about 2.0 was less homework. Lack of rigor, lack of teaching time, less scope, too much repetition, lack of feedback, poor test scores, etc. come up way before homework changes.

1st and 2d graders don't take standardized tests. I'm not really sure how 2.0 results in less teaching time, and I am sceptical it is meaningfully less rigorous or has too much repetition at those grades. (The complaints I've heard about repetition were related to adjusting to 2.0, not what 1st/2d graders experience in 2.0).

Most parents do not consider group work to be active teaching. Not in first grade and not in 5th grade.

You've taken a poll?

Also, most parents are not experts in teaching.