Forum Index
»
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Educational Inequities in MCPS
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Anonymous
|
The bad schools aren't bad because of MCPS. The bad schools are bad because of the students and parents.
On the plus side, this suggests a solution: massively increase magnet admissions, further boosting the scores at magnet schools. |
Anonymous
|
Right, it's long established fact that money, sweat, interest, novel programs- none of these things solve education problems. LeBron James ' I promise school failed with 3+ years of failing 8th grade math tests.
Hedgies have tried innumerable times and failed. The problem is that home stress and uneducated parents are the problem and the school district has no authority to try to fix that. |
Anonymous
| There are multiple factual errors in that piece. |
Anonymous
The bad schools aren’t ONLY because of MCPS, but it is a fact that MCPS under resources and neglects its poorer schools for the most part. They also allow bad teachers to do mediocre at poor performing schools. Largely because the engaged, active parents at the W schools will make so much noise that admin will respond to. At the end of the day, parents need to do better all around. Be involved in their kids’ schooling and their kids’ lives and a lot of the problems at school will disappear. Then we can hold MCPS accountable for its share. |
Anonymous
| I’ve proposed this before, that the busing of students should go both ways: academically talented students bused to the magnets which are in low SES schools, and set up arts magnets in high SES schools (and bus low SES students to these high SES schools). |
Anonymous
|
'Additionally, transportation is a big problem due to Poolesville's location, resulting in only students with access to a car being able to attend, a luxury not many lower-income families can afford'
There is a bus... |
Anonymous
It has nothing to do with mcps at all. There isn't a single case study that days more money works. There isn't a single case study that says buying works. There isn't a single case study that says any combination of programs work. This isn't a problem in mcps. This is a nationwide phenomenon. And no one, anywhere even with all of the money behind them in the world, has figured out a way to solve it. |
Anonymous
| Fix the root of the problem. Bussing kids around to inflate test scores does not work. Universal Pre-K, hire the best teachers and pay the best ones amazingly well. Decrease the number of standardized testing, give teachers more freedom to teach based on their students, and make all programs accessible to everyone. Free tutoring available to everyone. Oh, and demand an environment that is conducive to learning. Fights and being disrespectful to teachers will not be tolerated. None of this restorative justice crap. Basically make all schools great. |
Anonymous
Did you read my post? I said the majority of the problem lies with parents. Either because they are unengaged in the schools and their kids' education or because they're the source of dysfunction, trauma and stress in their kids' lives, which leads to them acting out. However, as I said, MCPS does neglect and underserve its poorer schools. But you're right, throwing money at the problem doesn't fix it. Because if it did, Baltimore's schools, which spends over $20,000 per pupil, would be at the top of the nation. But they aren't. |
Anonymous
None of those things fix a broken home environment or unengaged and uninvolved parents, which are the most significant contributing to students' poor performance in school and life. |
Anonymous
| Most of educational achievement is genetic. We probably should help people get pregnant with children with better intellectual and social emotional potential. |
Anonymous
|
Thinking outside the box here:
I’m a product of one of the high FARMS schools from the 1980’s during a unique time in MCPS history. I was part of the pilot program for honors and later AP classes. I was in a group of 30 students from 7th-12th grade. Of my cohort from this experiment, many of us were the first generation of our families to go to college. Many of us not only earned Bachelor’s degrees, we also earned Graduate degrees. Looking back, what were the things that helped: 1) small class sizes - in a small class, everyone was expected to participate and the teacher was available to answer questions and provide feedback 2) encouragement for students to attend office hours and create study groups - I had the same group of students for core subject areas so we really bonded and supported one another as the curriculum got harder 3) free SAT prep by AP English teacher and AP Calculus teacher during lunch - I’m not sure if they gave us the help altruistictically or if they were compensated but after school many of us had jobs or extracurricular activities so lunch sessions were ideal. My parents wouldn’t been able to afford a private SAT class. 4) high expectations to remain in the program - we had to achieve high achievement test scores to be in the program and had to get As and Bs to continue. 5) internal drive - my parents couldn’t help me with most of my homework past 7th grade. I think the biggest factor was my own drive to succeed. I wanted a better life and better job opportunities than my parents. I understood (like my cohorts) that education was the key to a better life. 6) when you have a classroom where students are focused on learning, there are no discipline problems - our classes was a school within a school. For core classes, it was the same 20-25 students. The rest of the school was like general population where chaos ruled. I actually had to drop an elective once because of the teacher screaming and kids misbehaving to the point it was too stressful. It’s hard to learn in chaos. |
Anonymous
There's nothing we can do to fix that though. All I know is that what they're doing now at the schools...it's not working. I pulled my kid from a high farms middle school to a much lower one. Curriculum is the same but the stark difference is that there is such rampant misbehavior and fights at the high farms school and the administrators don't do anything about it vs the low farm school where the kids are much more respectful and kids can actually concentrate on learning. When the environment is conducive to learning, everyone benefits..the teachers are happier, parents are happier and students are happier. We need to start expecting better from all students and stop tolerating the disrespectful behavior at schools. |
Anonymous
|
I'm someone who genuinely believes that we've not yet begun to reckon with our racist history and that policies like government-backed redlining and single-family zoning continue to fuel inequality.
However, this article is not doing any favors. It jumps from topic to topic, without drawing the line between the themes. Yes, racist policies made it harder for Black families to build generational wealth. Yes, the government ran a "fast track to the Middle Class" program throughout the Great Society era and Black Americans were largely left out of programs like Medicare and the GI Bill. These have repercussions today, but the author never bothers to draw that line. Further, the broad brushstrokes and use of national rather than local data elides some of the good that's happening in Montgomery County. It's one of the best places to be a Black boy in the entire United States, for example. Educational outcomes are better, the number of court-involved youth is lower, etc. So, what is going right? How can we build on that? |