MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee's Complaint about Systemic Failures by MCPS

[Anonymous]

re: The 99% students: Give or take a few months, doesn't make much difference imo. That's what one of my favorite early ed teachers who's worked with countless children said to me regarding this matter, and I agree. The standouts are clear. Time will not help someone who's just not a high flyer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. To clarify, a 99% kid born towards the end of cutoff vs a 99% kid who's nearly 9 months older and likely more mature and had more exposure.

My understanding is the CogAT is age normed meaning kids are compared with other kids their same birth month to determine their percentile not kids from other random months.

yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. To clarify, a 99% kid born towards the end of cutoff vs a 99% kid who's nearly 9 months older and likely more mature and had more exposure.

My understanding is the CogAT is age normed meaning kids are compared with other kids their same birth month to determine their percentile not kids from other random months.

yes

Its both age and grade normed. MCPS generally uses grade norms. So, a younger child can get 99% per their age level but much lower for grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Which school does you student attend?!?!?!?!?!?!? We have exams. We have homework. We have late penalties. We get notices if the kid is 3 minutes late to a class.

Is your student telling you this stuff?

I'm guessing it's just fiction because we are at a DCC high school and none of what they're saying is true.

My child attends Churchill.

Parentvue tells me my child was recorded as present for most periods when my child was home sick. Parentvue also reflects full credit for assignments turned in late. Two books assigned for AP English each semester this year, about the same as previous years in the cluster. The rigor has been non-existent for current students at the school.

Perhaps the problem in MCPS is that some schools offer more opportunities than others. Just because a school labels a class as an AP class doesn’t mean necessarily that it’s a rigorous course and that students have to meet high standards.

You have no idea how advanced and rigorous the programs are at Churchill. Do not post wrong information please.

That is just one school out of how many? That's great Churchill is special but generally all the W schools get more with that kind of stuff as they have wealthier parents. That's not true at other schools so you just proved part of the concern.

It’s a false stereotype that all of Churchill families are wealthy. We have families who qualify for section 8 housing as well as government workers who make under six figures. There are also MCPS teachers that live in the immediate neighborhood around Churchill.

MCPS also funds schools like Churchill less than other high schools in the county. The assumption is that parents will donate to the school or pay for private services the school is lacking. As the truly wealthy are leaving public schools for private, schools like Churchill will see less as far as donations. The requirement that parents have to pay for private services is a denial of a Free Appropriate Public Education all students are entitled to receive.

There is a very limited number of low income but most are rich.

<5% FARMS which is code for none while the county average is over 35%

And what is the definition of “rich” and how does MCPS identify the percentage of “rich” students? Anyone who is not FARMS is considered “rich”?

[Anonymous]

Anyone know if MCPS responded to the MCCPTA Complaint From the Public?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if MCPS responded to the MCCPTA Complaint From the Public?

By complaint do you mean the request that they're filling?

[Anonymous]

DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know if MCPS responded to the MCCPTA Complaint From the Public?

By complaint do you mean the request that they're filling?

The MCCPTA filed an official Complaint From the Public. OP listed a link for the document.

I support the MCCPTA’s compliant and I am interested in whether the MCCPTA received a response from MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

Sure because Central Office has done a stellar job with filling MCPS vacancies this year, having adequate substitutes on hand, having bus drivers for all bus routes, and serving special populations such as students with special needs and students with gifts. Dr. McKnight keeps saying that students come first but Central Office keeps funneling money to new Central Office positions vs. services and staff at the school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

Sure because Central Office has done a stellar job with filling MCPS vacancies this year, having adequate substitutes on hand, having bus drivers for all bus routes, and serving special populations such as students with special needs and students with gifts. Dr. McKnight keeps saying that students come first but Central Office keeps funneling money to new Central Office positions vs. services and staff at the school level.

More vague accusations without a shred of credible proof. Big surprise...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

Sure because Central Office has done a stellar job with filling MCPS vacancies this year, having adequate substitutes on hand, having bus drivers for all bus routes, and serving special populations such as students with special needs and students with gifts. Dr. McKnight keeps saying that students come first but Central Office keeps funneling money to new Central Office positions vs. services and staff at the school level.

More vague accusations without a shred of credible proof. Big surprise...

"Data shows that 494 MCPS teachers resigned during the 2019-2020 school year. That number dropped to 444 last school year. This school year the number of teacher resignations is presently at 543, and there are still six weeks left." https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-teachers-resigning-retiring-low-staffing-burnout-great-resignation-maryland-education

I think the OCR stats and lottery discussion were earlier in this thread. I would tack this on as well:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/06/asian-students-are-victims-montgomery-countys-achievement-gap/

There. Happy now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

Sure because Central Office has done a stellar job with filling MCPS vacancies this year, having adequate substitutes on hand, having bus drivers for all bus routes, and serving special populations such as students with special needs and students with gifts. Dr. McKnight keeps saying that students come first but Central Office keeps funneling money to new Central Office positions vs. services and staff at the school level.

More vague accusations without a shred of credible proof. Big surprise...

"Data shows that 494 MCPS teachers resigned during the 2019-2020 school year. That number dropped to 444 last school year. This school year the number of teacher resignations is presently at 543, and there are still six weeks left." https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-teachers-resigning-retiring-low-staffing-burnout-great-resignation-maryland-education

I think the OCR stats and lottery discussion were earlier in this thread. I would tack this on as well:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/06/asian-students-are-victims-montgomery-countys-achievement-gap/

There. Happy now?

New PP - thank you for posting.

FYI - One trend I am seeing in the MCPS job announcements is the disproportionate number of Special Education Teacher vacancies for next year. It seems like this group of highly needed and highly skilled teachers are burning out at a higher rate than other staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DP. I'm so sick of MCPS Central Office and BOE giving lip service to the parents. JUST FIRE THEM.

Can you be specific? Who's doing this exactly? It's just hard to take all these vague accusations seriously.

Sure because Central Office has done a stellar job with filling MCPS vacancies this year, having adequate substitutes on hand, having bus drivers for all bus routes, and serving special populations such as students with special needs and students with gifts. Dr. McKnight keeps saying that students come first but Central Office keeps funneling money to new Central Office positions vs. services and staff at the school level.

More vague accusations without a shred of credible proof. Big surprise...

"Data shows that 494 MCPS teachers resigned during the 2019-2020 school year. That number dropped to 444 last school year. This school year the number of teacher resignations is presently at 543, and there are still six weeks left." https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-teachers-resigning-retiring-low-staffing-burnout-great-resignation-maryland-education

I think the OCR stats and lottery discussion were earlier in this thread. I would tack this on as well:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/06/asian-students-are-victims-montgomery-countys-achievement-gap/

There. Happy now?

New PP - thank you for posting.

FYI - One trend I am seeing in the MCPS job announcements is the disproportionate number of Special Education Teacher vacancies for next year. It seems like this group of highly needed and highly skilled teachers are burning out at a higher rate than other staff.

Special Ed does not mean highly skilled teachers who will teach the highly abled students. Special Ed is for kids who are not performing at their grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also appreciate the MCCPTA GEC advocacy. I agree with those who would like to take all of the eggs out of the magnet basket and upgrade home school curriculum. The state of Middle School curriculum is troubling for advanced learners. The two enriched classes (AIM HIGH) are better than nothing, but the level of instruction for English and Science should be upgraded. Too much filling in work sheets and busy work.

High School has lots of opportunities for kids to challenge themselves.

High school is not as rigorous as it used to be. No exams. Very little homework. For English, your child is lucky if more than two books are read in a semester (and this includes AP Literature). No penalty if a child turns in assignments late. At least half of my child’s teachers do not take attendance. When he is sick, he is still marked present.

I worry about what MCPS thinks they are preparing students for beyond high school.

Which school does you student attend?!?!?!?!?!?!? We have exams. We have homework. We have late penalties. We get notices if the kid is 3 minutes late to a class.

Is your student telling you this stuff?

We've never had any of that stuff. You are at MCPS? We don't have any accelerated classes in MS either, including HIGH. My child has read two books this year in English.

My kid read two over the weekend. Brought them home from the school library.

That's good. We are talking about assigned reading, not ES kids bring home two books a week to read. Our school doesn't have a school library.

Which MCPS school doesn't have a library?

Virtual kids have no access to library beyond public or online.

But isn't that the point of virtual schooling is you don't go into a physical building?

In any case I think Montgomery county is hiring a librarian for virtual academy next year I am not sure if their responsibility will be to help students access on my resources or if they will be some sort of physical library that is dedicated to virtual students

You should try the e-library! It blows away any school library. They have everything!

What is e-library? Do you have a link?