Did you waste your money buying a house to get access to MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is it with the spate of MCPS HAS BETRAYED US AND RUINED OUR LIVES threads on DCUM? Is this a regular spring break thing?

There are definitely a bunch of doom and gloom MCPS posters who resurface every now and then.

Every now and then? It feels like the MCPS bashing never ends. I have my own issues with various aspects of my kids' education, but honestly the tone here is so over the top I find myself sympathizing with the county.

Have you read the Johns Hopkims audit saying the curriculum fails to teach core skills? That’s where it’s coming from.

So now that it’s changing will you be pro- MCPS again?

[Anonymous]

Wow, the MCPS boosters have finally come out of the woodwork. Took a few days, but they’re here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think every parent should complain as loudly as we can. The way 2.0 was implemented was nothing short of criminal negligence. Sure, some kids are going to be fine no matter what happens. Their native intelligence and advantaged circumstance protected them from an inadequate education at school. But for the majority of the students, 2.0 was a massive failure as the JHU studies pointed out in student performance changes relative to neighboring district. MCPS needs to be rebuked and held accountable by every stakeholder. Your child may be fine but the school reputation and your property value may be affected as well. Just tell others to shut up is not the answer when the external audit is so black and white.

Agree. I am from a developing nation and if my relatives back home saw some of the worksheets, they would laugh. I had a baby sitter from Spain, who was a teacher there, and she begged me to complain. Typos like the diagram not matching up with the words in the question, stuff like that.

I remember years ago watching a movie about a man who gave his wife money to buy their daughter a dress. The mother got a brilliant idea and decided to buy fabric to make a dress instead, even though she was not a seamstress. The dress was a complete failure and the daughter was very upset. When the father found out, he yelled at his wife and asked why she didn't just buy a d-m dress.

I want to ask MCPS, why they didn't just buy a d-m curriculum.

Exactly. I think many parents who assumed all was fine did not actually spend time helping their kids with homework, or perhaps did not have kids who complained about the curriculum. We pulled my son out of MCPS after third grade. I wanted to yank him mid-year and wish we had. He’s in s private school now and is still struggling to catch up in math.

This is what terrifies me, as a parent with a young child.

PP 20:21 here. Please don’t be terrified! Being a parent is hard enough! And believe me, taking a huge financial hit for private school is terrifying too. That said, there are a few things you can do, here are some examples:

1. Keep reading to your child, and focus on conversations with questions and answers that describe situations. It really helped that my kid was an early reader and had the vocabulary to describe what was going on in school. I hate to admit I didn’t believe him at first, but when I stopped and questioned, talked to the teacher, volunteered at the school, etc, I learned my kid was not really exaggerating. I literally did not have the time to micro manage his education, but I was not willing to look the other way.

2. Some of my friends homeschooled. Those communities are big in Silvef Spring and Takona Park. There are fabulous resources here, and collaboratives so you don’t always have to do everything yourself. I do not have the temperament (or the career) for homeschooling, so we couldn’t go that route. However, there are homeschooled kids doing really well with college admissions and getting socialization through sports clubs, scouts, robotics clubs, church/temple, etc.

3. Put pressure on elected officials. Everything I’ve read and observed suggests that MCPS is just a terrible top/down bureaucracy. “They” (top administrators) will NOT take input from teachers or parents. I agree the school system needs radical change, but I am skeptical that will happen in short order. Pay attention to the County Council race. Mark Elrich was a teacher pre-2.0; he gets it and he supports “the little guy” — ie, local communities.

4. If you go private, consider parochial schools - tuition can be as little as @ $10 - $12k a year, even in Bethesda. Most religious schools will give financial aid
and if you have more than one kid, it’s easier to qualify for some help.

5. Finally, there are a lot of parents working more than one job and / or going through savings and retirement funds to send their kids to parochial and other schools. Before we entered MCPS, I truly did not understand it. But as one parent put it to me, “We used their college funds to pay for private school. We figured it was most important to get them the help they needed — now.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is it with the spate of MCPS HAS BETRAYED US AND RUINED OUR LIVES threads on DCUM? Is this a regular spring break thing?

There are definitely a bunch of doom and gloom MCPS posters who resurface every now and then.

Every now and then? It feels like the MCPS bashing never ends. I have my own issues with various aspects of my kids' education, but honestly the tone here is so over the top I find myself sympathizing with the county.

Have you read the Johns Hopkims audit saying the curriculum fails to teach core skills? That’s where it’s coming from.

So now that it’s changing will you be pro- MCPS again?

If it adequately teaches kids core skills, sure. I’d love nothing more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what terrifies me, as a parent with a young child.

When I read about Curriculum 2.0 on DCUM before my younger child started kindergarten, I thought, "Oh no! My child will languish! My child will be doomed!" However, my child did not languish, and my child was not doomed. Curriculum 2.0 had some good aspects and some bad aspects. I'm not sad to see it go. But really, let's maintain some perspective. The alarmist hyperbole is just that, alarmist hyperbole. I don't know what goal OP and the other hyperbolic alarmists are trying to achieve with it.

The audit is scathing. Have you read it? There is reason for a ton of concern.

PP you're responding to. Seriously, what goal are you trying to achieve by posting all of this alarm on DCUM? Do you think that it will make MCPS adopt a new and better curriculum faster?

Also, I'm not discounting the audit. Please don't discount that I know what I'm talking about when I talk about my child's education.

Do you really think all of this is by me? I am one of many people (and virtually all teachers, according to the audit) upset by curriculum 2.0.

Have you noticed anybody saying, "Curriculum 2.0 is great, let's keep it forever and change nothing!"? I haven't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think every parent should complain as loudly as we can. The way 2.0 was implemented was nothing short of criminal negligence. Sure, some kids are going to be fine no matter what happens. Their native intelligence and advantaged circumstance protected them from an inadequate education at school. But for the majority of the students, 2.0 was a massive failure as the JHU studies pointed out in student performance changes relative to neighboring district. MCPS needs to be rebuked and held accountable by every stakeholder. Your child may be fine but the school reputation and your property value may be affected as well. Just tell others to shut up is not the answer when the external audit is so black and white.

Agree. I am from a developing nation and if my relatives back home saw some of the worksheets, they would laugh. I had a baby sitter from Spain, who was a teacher there, and she begged me to complain. Typos like the diagram not matching up with the words in the question, stuff like that.

I remember years ago watching a movie about a man who gave his wife money to buy their daughter a dress. The mother got a brilliant idea and decided to buy fabric to make a dress instead, even though she was not a seamstress. The dress was a complete failure and the daughter was very upset. When the father found out, he yelled at his wife and asked why she didn't just buy a d-m dress.

I want to ask MCPS, why they didn't just buy a d-m curriculum.

Exactly. I think many parents who assumed all was fine did not actually spend time helping their kids with homework, or perhaps did not have kids who complained about the curriculum. We pulled my son out of MCPS after third grade. I wanted to yank him mid-year and wish we had. He’s in s private school now and is still struggling to catch up in math.

This is what terrifies me, as a parent with a young child.

PP 20:21 here. Please don’t be terrified! Being a parent is hard enough! And believe me, taking a huge financial hit for private school is terrifying too. That said, there are a few things you can do, here are some examples:

1. Keep reading to your child, and focus on conversations with questions and answers that describe situations. It really helped that my kid was an early reader and had the vocabulary to describe what was going on in school. I hate to admit I didn’t believe him at first, but when I stopped and questioned, talked to the teacher, volunteered at the school, etc, I learned my kid was not really exaggerating. I literally did not have the time to micro manage his education, but I was not willing to look the other way.

2. Some of my friends homeschooled. Those communities are big in Silvef Spring and Takona Park. There are fabulous resources here, and collaboratives so you don’t always have to do everything yourself. I do not have the temperament (or the career) for homeschooling, so we couldn’t go that route. However, there are homeschooled kids doing really well with college admissions and getting socialization through sports clubs, scouts, robotics clubs, church/temple, etc.

3. Put pressure on elected officials. Everything I’ve read and observed suggests that MCPS is just a terrible top/down bureaucracy. “They” (top administrators) will NOT take input from teachers or parents. I agree the school system needs radical change, but I am skeptical that will happen in short order. Pay attention to the County Council race. Mark Elrich was a teacher pre-2.0; he gets it and he supports “the little guy” — ie, local communities.

4. If you go private, consider parochial schools - tuition can be as little as @ $10 - $12k a year, even in Bethesda. Most religious schools will give financial aid
and if you have more than one kid, it’s easier to qualify for some help.

5. Finally, there are a lot of parents working more than one job and / or going through savings and retirement funds to send their kids to parochial and other schools. Before we entered MCPS, I truly did not understand it. But as one parent put it to me, “We used their college funds to pay for private school. We figured it was most important to get them the help they needed — now.”

Thank you. Unfortunately we can’t afford for one of us to stop working, so homeschooling isn’t an option. We are Jewish and so Catholic schools make us very uncomfortable (I hope that doesn’t offend anyone). We will do private if we have to. It would be the last resort, but we’ll do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This is what terrifies me, as a parent with a young child.

When I read about Curriculum 2.0 on DCUM before my younger child started kindergarten, I thought, "Oh no! My child will languish! My child will be doomed!" However, my child did not languish, and my child was not doomed. Curriculum 2.0 had some good aspects and some bad aspects. I'm not sad to see it go. But really, let's maintain some perspective. The alarmist hyperbole is just that, alarmist hyperbole. I don't know what goal OP and the other hyperbolic alarmists are trying to achieve with it.

The audit is scathing. Have you read it? There is reason for a ton of concern.

PP you're responding to. Seriously, what goal are you trying to achieve by posting all of this alarm on DCUM? Do you think that it will make MCPS adopt a new and better curriculum faster?

Also, I'm not discounting the audit. Please don't discount that I know what I'm talking about when I talk about my child's education.

Do you really think all of this is by me? I am one of many people (and virtually all teachers, according to the audit) upset by curriculum 2.0.

And they’re changing the curriculum and will pick one shortly. It would be a more useful discussion to talk about the new curriculum and any information on options because the 2.0 ship has already sunk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
5. Finally, there are a lot of parents working more than one job and / or going through savings and retirement funds to send their kids to parochial and other schools. Before we entered MCPS, I truly did not understand it. But as one parent put it to me, “We used their college funds to pay for private school. We figured it was most important to get them the help they needed — now.”

Also the new tax bill passed in December allows you to use 529 funds for K-12 private schools. Before it could only be used for college education.

[Anonymous]

Read the comments in the article about it:
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/MCPS-Launches-Effort-To-Find-New-Curriculum-After-Report-Finds-Flaws-in-Existing-Materials/

So MCPS developed their own materials in conjunction with Pearson, and now pays Pearson almost $1mln/year to use the shoddy curriculum they developed? Infuriating.

Also read how the previous superintendent got an all-expenses-paid trip for him and his wife to Australia, paid for by Pearson. Hmm...

The thing that gets me as I read those comments is that parents with advanced degrees can't figure out their children's homework. If they can't figure it out, how do you expect a child from a less advantaged background to figure it out? If their parents are not native English speakers and have only a high school education, how are they going to help their kids. MCPS is failing the children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read the comments in the article about it:
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/MCPS-Launches-Effort-To-Find-New-Curriculum-After-Report-Finds-Flaws-in-Existing-Materials/

So MCPS developed their own materials in conjunction with Pearson, and now pays Pearson almost $1mln/year to use the shoddy curriculum they developed? Infuriating.

Also read how the previous superintendent got an all-expenses-paid trip for him and his wife to Australia, paid for by Pearson. Hmm...

The thing that gets me as I read those comments is that parents with advanced degrees can't figure out their children's homework. If they can't figure it out, how do you expect a child from a less advantaged background to figure it out? If their parents are not native English speakers and have only a high school education, how are they going to help their kids. MCPS is failing the children.

Yes, I read it. It was a lot of bad decisions by MCPS and the person who managed this process shouldn't be managing the new curriculum decision. But it's going to change going forward, so posting that MCPS is never going to improve is probably misguided.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the comments in the article about it:
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/MCPS-Launches-Effort-To-Find-New-Curriculum-After-Report-Finds-Flaws-in-Existing-Materials/

So MCPS developed their own materials in conjunction with Pearson, and now pays Pearson almost $1mln/year to use the shoddy curriculum they developed? Infuriating.

Also read how the previous superintendent got an all-expenses-paid trip for him and his wife to Australia, paid for by Pearson. Hmm...

The thing that gets me as I read those comments is that parents with advanced degrees can't figure out their children's homework. If they can't figure it out, how do you expect a child from a less advantaged background to figure it out? If their parents are not native English speakers and have only a high school education, how are they going to help their kids. MCPS is failing the children.

Yes, I read it. It was a lot of bad decisions by MCPS and the person who managed this process shouldn't be managing the new curriculum decision. But it's going to change going forward, so posting that MCPS is never going to improve is probably misguided.

So where in the central office do you work?

[Anonymous]

Can we get some textbooks?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I INVESTED money in land near downtown Bethesda, which has appreciated and will continue to do so. The schools are good as well!

for how much longer?

I've been in the system for over 20 years as a teacher. born in Mo Co - spent my entire lifetime in this county

Don't depend on Bethesda "holding out" for much longer.

Long enough. My oldest who needs lots of help, has indeed received lots of help from MCPS, for which we are incredibly grateful, and will be out in a few years. My youngest can deal with whatever they throw at her

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remember to vote out the school board members at the primary coming up in June.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Read the comments in the article about it:
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/2018/MCPS-Launches-Effort-To-Find-New-Curriculum-After-Report-Finds-Flaws-in-Existing-Materials/

So MCPS developed their own materials in conjunction with Pearson, and now pays Pearson almost $1mln/year to use the shoddy curriculum they developed? Infuriating.

Also read how the previous superintendent got an all-expenses-paid trip for him and his wife to Australia, paid for by Pearson. Hmm...

The thing that gets me as I read those comments is that parents with advanced degrees can't figure out their children's homework. If they can't figure it out, how do you expect a child from a less advantaged background to figure it out? If their parents are not native English speakers and have only a high school education, how are they going to help their kids. MCPS is failing the children.

Yes, I read it. It was a lot of bad decisions by MCPS and the person who managed this process shouldn't be managing the new curriculum decision. But it's going to change going forward, so posting that MCPS is never going to improve is probably misguided.

So where in the central office do you work?

I don’t work anywhere in education. Just a parent who doesn’t undestand why you’re wasting your breath harping about a bad decision that MCPS has already decided to fix.