Myths about MCPS- high school
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Anonymous
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My conclusions based on our experience at one MCPS high school located in Bethesda:
-retakes are very rare. -the curriculum does vary among MCPS schools. This was confirmed by several MCPS teachers at different schools who tutor in math and foreign language. |
Anonymous
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The curriculum doesn’t vary, but courses offered and how lessons are taught definitely does.
DCUM doesn’t understand the meaning of curriculum. |
Anonymous
This is incredibly vague. Sure, the same courses may be offered, but the content is vastly different. A couple of tutors teaching the same subject at different MCPS schools said they don’t cover the subjects my kid is tested on. They did not even have the knowledge to tutor these topics which are a significant part of the grade. |
Anonymous
Yes, there is some variation in courses offered, but all schools offer the key ones like AP English or Calc BC etc. |
Anonymous
Shhhh, you are speaking heresy! Talking about actual experiences instead of crazy stuff that nobody I know experiences isn't allowed here. |
Anonymous
Well - one kid at WJ and one kid at Blair - both their AP Psych and their Honors Chemistry were VASTLY different. Whether that be a matter of "curriculum" vs. how lessons are taught - I just know that they covered very different material at very different times. |
Anonymous
Did both take the AP exam? How did they do? |
Anonymous
| If your child at Blair is in the stem program of course their science class will cover different things. Not sure why AP Psych would be that different. They are supposed to follow a standard list. |
Anonymous
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AP courses shouldn’t be that different as all teachers have to cover the same curriculum. Some teachers are obviously tougher graders while others are more lenient and sometimes they teach units in different orders. However, teachers can be strong or weak and the course can end up looking very different depending on who is teaching it.
Non-AP courses like Chem and Physics can look very different from school to school because there is no standard testing so teachers can ignore the MCPS provided curriculum. The MCPS curriculum is pretty mediocre and uninspiring. Bio is pretty standard because of the MISA testing. |
Anonymous
I don’t have high schoolers, but I do have twins. They have had vastly different experiences even within the same schools, just different classrooms/teachers. Different lesson units, massively different number of graded assignments in the quarter, hw for one and none for the other, novel studies for one, no physical books for the other. It’s bizarre. |
Anonymous
It's almost like teachers are people, not interchangeable widgets! |
Anonymous
| Not all teachers are good teachers and some downright suck. I have noticed this at a W school in Potomac. |
Anonymous
I agree with you. DC struggled in honors bio so we hired a tutor. The tutor taught honors and AP at another MCPS HS and said our HS was teaching more deeply and moving more quickly through the curriculum. She said she didn’t cover quite a bit of the info taught in her own honors classes and some was actually part of the AP class she taught. My younger child has friends at other schools and said when tests come up as a topic during his club sport practice, he’s realized they aren’t always being tested to the same level of detail. |
Anonymous
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My son went to RM and had a Whitman teacher as a tutor.
It was the early years of math 2.0. Tutor said the Whitman math leads were writing their own version of the mcps lessons that they were given. My son was getting straight MCPS. |
Anonymous
I don't believe this story because C2.0 was not implemented in HS. |