MD report cards are out!
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Anonymous
| The math scores are abysmal because the new math they teach is abysmal. They don't teach basic math facts like multiplication tables. What is happening is that parents are not able to offer the support at home. |
Anonymous
My 8th and 5th grader have learned the multiplication tables in mcps. |
Anonymous
I posted the climate survey. While the return is pretty good, others either didn't respond b/c 1) they've given up or 2) they are happy and simply don't care. One question I ask, however, is this: Can a school sustain this momentum? While the academic achievement is impressive, given its obstacles (1/3 FARMs and 13% ESOL), how much can teachers continue to give of themselves? On another note, I can compare it to Highland, also a DCC feeder, with its 500+ enrollment in a pre-K through 5 setting. HES, however, has over 80% of its children categorized as FARMs, with over half of its population in ESOL. So OT looks like a walk in the park compared to Highland's stats. Don't you think that the teachers who are at HES WANT to be there? I'm sure that's their choice, too. But again, how do you motivate teachers to continue to work with students facing obstacles when the state believes that a 5-star rating is the end all? So to expect staff to ". . . challenge and support children at every ability level" is unreasonable for long stretches of time, as we all have lives outside of work. I certainly would never put my own children in second place. So feeling supported is one thing, but once a school loses its 5-star rating (the bar is low, folks), will the staff still feel supported? I don't know the turnover. Perhaps someone on this thread does. Trends tell a story, too. |
Anonymous
We moved to FCPS (MD), and my 4th grader, who knew his math facts from his MCPS school, is still working on them, as his teacher constantly reinforces the basics while teaching them new material. I love it. |
Anonymous
My DS started when they rolled over to the 2.0 curriculum and they were not taught straight up multiplication table memorization. They taught groupings (which is another valid way) and other multi-step, round-about ways. Then they expected them to simply know 9x8. It didn't work and he is still catching up. |
Anonymous
You really don't understand how the brain works, do you?  NO ONE studies for the state standardized tests because it tests at a very basic level of curriculum. You do not conserve and preserve your brain cells by choosing to not use it when you are taking these mandatory tests. Also, either you have mastered the content of these exams in your cumulative years of K-12 education or not. The truth is that the rural White students with low SES are not doing that great in even schools like PHS. The people who are recent transplants to Poolesville because of the magnet HS on the other hand are doing great as they are higher SES. The sad part is that the students who are performing poorly and being left behind will remain hidden and largely forgotten by the data of the high achievers and probably will never get the intervention and help they need to catch up.
Since Math is very dumbed down across US, students needed a much lower level of knowledge for testing purposes as opposed to English. The English scores were lower even for Asian-Americans. However, both Asians and Hispanics (mostly magnet kids)had only a slight dip in English scores and did well by and large. The scores of both Blacks and Whites (a mix of magnet and zoned school population) is very telling here. It shows a direct connection between the SES of the students, the level of their parents education and their achievement. I am not surprised. Parents feel so happy that their child is attending a magnet school, a high scoring school in GS, a W school etc. The truth is that it is utterly meaningless if your own kid is not excelling in these great schools. Great SAT scores, great AP and IB scores, great ACT scores...they are the great equalizers and signifies the same things regardless of where your kid goes to school. There are a shocking %age of low performing Black and White students in Poolesville and that has become clear in this report card. Don't look at how great the magnet kids are doing at this test that is basically measuring the floor because their achievements is not the reality of the kids who are not proficient at grade level education. This is after spending years in public schools with all the facilities our taxes are used for providing them! |
Anonymous
That's a teacher problem, not an mcps problem. Both my kids had to memorize their multiplication tables, including my now 8th grader. They would even have speed competitions. This was in 3rd grade. Again, it's a teacher problem. Sounds like your teachers at your school sucks. |
Anonymous
My DS2 was the first group of kids that had 2.0 (current 9th graders). My DS1 was pre-2.0 and they were not teaching multiplication tables even then. I taught them both multiplication tables as well as have been using commercially available curriculum and textbooks for them for years. I am very saddened to see how low quality the education in this country is. It is shocking when you realize how much the county spends per child. For the 5 star cost, we are getting a 1 star education. Most people are themselves ill educated and they don't care or understand what this all means. They are electing the same incompetent and corrupt people to BOE year after year. |
Anonymous
| Can someone explain why Robert Frost got a 4 and Westland got a 5 and they have the same score? |
Anonymous
| Is the site down for anyone else? |
Anonymous
| I can't believe the site is still down. |
Anonymous
Idiocracy is not going to produce competent workers. Needs to be outsourced to another country and smarter people. |
Anonymous
Um. Your gentle pity for our poor rural youth is misplaced. PHS feeder elementary and middle schools are all ranked 4 and 5s. The local kids are generally mid to high SES and the schools all have a very low FARMS rate. There are tons of lawyers and scientists living up here. Most households are professional, educated, and dual income. The difference in stats is because you are seeing what the current ELA education in MCPS produces for average kids. In the case of PHS, the lovely, bright, minority magnet kids who join our community from Germantown and Gaithersburg have higher scores because they are special, smarter kids, not because they are more SES advantaged. Also, parents here tend to want their kids to play outside or do sports and music after school and don’t tend to send their kids to academic prep classes unless their child is struggling to keep up with peers. So, in a way, you can very clearly see the EXACT effects of MCPS curriculum in the local PHS kids... if it is subpar results, it is NOT because a bunch of kids are poor and neglected at home. It is because a bunch of perfectly advantaged children with professional parents who largely trust the public school system are exposed to a chronically subpar ELA curriculum. |
Anonymous
You moved because of the caliber of kids which makes your kid middle of the pack because of the sheer competition. OT is a good school but it is now where as fantastic as Kensington Parkwood not its PTA. Have a seat and quit your whining. You are always free to make the switch back. Bye! |
Anonymous
It’s also a parent problem. I e got three kids that came up through 2.0 and each of them had a standard homework assignment to practice basic math facts for 10 minutes per day. I have big issues with the 2.0 math curriculum but this isn’t one of them. |