Changes in MCPS in the last 15 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the ESL % you will see that they are much lower than the population of Hispanic kids. The hispanic population is growing in MCPS because its younger and have more children per household. There has also been migration from DC into MD as DC areas are gentrifying. The low income hispanic population in NOVA so far has tended to move further out or become more concentrated in the pockets of low income housing in NOVA rather than into Montgomery County. It is difficult for low income people to pick and move. If they have to do it they are more likely to find a community that culturally accepts them and is familiar so overtime you may or may not see migration from NOVA to MCPS. MCPS does not know what to do with the hispanic population. They have almost no representation anywhere within MCPS or even MCPTA despite being the largest group. Their interests do not align with the AA administrators or BOE members but as a group they do not have enough engagement or political engagement to change things.

The biggest change that I have seen over the past 15 years has nothing to do with the demographic changes. It has been the runaway growth of a toxic work culture within MCPS. This is really the root of all the problems -sex abuse crimes, terrible curriculum, plummeting scores, low teacher morale, poorly maintained facilities, bad capacity planning and hostile community engagement. Toxic behavior is rewarded and educating kids is at best an after thought. The system is functioning as a bunch of incompetent people desperately trying to keep their jobs not by excelling at their jobs but by telling each other what they want to hear and covering up for each other. There is zero external accountability within the central office and its favored principals that central office carefully places to keep central office staff happy. Its a mess.

THE MAIN reason c2.0 was krap was the committee had to accommodate the illiterate ESOL Hispanic kids who can’t pass a proficiency test ever. The whole curriculum, subject matter (drop science, drop specials, drop PE to 1x/week, drop social studies), and duration of what was left (double math time, double ELA time) was to try and get those kids to frickin pass the dam Pearson’s test. p for proficient, you passed the low bar.
That didn’t work.
Next up, assignment and test retakes, rounded up to whole grade, no final exams, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

This is the problem. You clearly are in a neighborhood with high SES folks but the majority of MCPS is no longer in this category. Right now over 30% of all kids are on FARMS and the number of kids who have ever been on FARMS is around 40 something %. The FARMS number substantially undercounts kids living in poverty with low to no education parents. There is huge gap in education between old Montgomery County (people close to retirement age) and young families. The poverty is concentrated and growing within the younger demographic including young families.

Bet they wouldn’t qualify for FARM if you counted their parent(s)’s black market job money that is never reported or underreported.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the ESL % you will see that they are much lower than the population of Hispanic kids. The hispanic population is growing in MCPS because its younger and have more children per household. There has also been migration from DC into MD as DC areas are gentrifying. The low income hispanic population in NOVA so far has tended to move further out or become more concentrated in the pockets of low income housing in NOVA rather than into Montgomery County. It is difficult for low income people to pick and move. If they have to do it they are more likely to find a community that culturally accepts them and is familiar so overtime you may or may not see migration from NOVA to MCPS. MCPS does not know what to do with the hispanic population. They have almost no representation anywhere within MCPS or even MCPTA despite being the largest group. Their interests do not align with the AA administrators or BOE members but as a group they do not have enough engagement or political engagement to change things.

The biggest change that I have seen over the past 15 years has nothing to do with the demographic changes. It has been the runaway growth of a toxic work culture within MCPS. This is really the root of all the problems -sex abuse crimes, terrible curriculum, plummeting scores, low teacher morale, poorly maintained facilities, bad capacity planning and hostile community engagement. Toxic behavior is rewarded and educating kids is at best an after thought. The system is functioning as a bunch of incompetent people desperately trying to keep their jobs not by excelling at their jobs but by telling each other what they want to hear and covering up for each other. There is zero external accountability within the central office and its favored principals that central office carefully places to keep central office staff happy. Its a mess.

THE MAIN reason c2.0 was krap was the committee had to accommodate the illiterate ESOL Hispanic kids who can’t pass a proficiency test ever. The whole curriculum, subject matter (drop science, drop specials, drop PE to 1x/week, drop social studies), and duration of what was left (double math time, double ELA time) was to try and get those kids to frickin pass the dam Pearson’s test. p for proficient, you passed the low bar.
That didn’t work.
Next up, assignment and test retakes, rounded up to whole grade, no final exams, etc.

Can you support this with any evidence or is this just another swipe at immigrants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

This is the problem. You clearly are in a neighborhood with high SES folks but the majority of MCPS is no longer in this category. Right now over 30% of all kids are on FARMS and the number of kids who have ever been on FARMS is around 40 something %. The FARMS number substantially undercounts kids living in poverty with low to no education parents. There is huge gap in education between old Montgomery County (people close to retirement age) and young families. The poverty is concentrated and growing within the younger demographic including young families.

Since all these high-poverty people could so easily live here, moco must be incredibly affordable compared to the rest of dc metro.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

This is the problem. You clearly are in a neighborhood with high SES folks but the majority of MCPS is no longer in this category. Right now over 30% of all kids are on FARMS and the number of kids who have ever been on FARMS is around 40 something %. The FARMS number substantially undercounts kids living in poverty with low to no education parents. There is huge gap in education between old Montgomery County (people close to retirement age) and young families. The poverty is concentrated and growing within the younger demographic including young families.

Since all these high-poverty people could so easily live here, moco must be incredibly affordable compared to the rest of dc metro.

Who said anything about "easily"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

THE MAIN reason c2.0 was krap was the committee had to accommodate the illiterate ESOL Hispanic kids who can’t pass a proficiency test ever. The whole curriculum, subject matter (drop science, drop specials, drop PE to 1x/week, drop social studies), and duration of what was left (double math time, double ELA time) was to try and get those kids to frickin pass the dam Pearson’s test. p for proficient, you passed the low bar.
That didn’t work.
Next up, assignment and test retakes, rounded up to whole grade, no final exams, etc.

Do what now? Specials didn't get dropped. And PE (like the other specials, art and music) already was once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if this thread were Changes in DCPS over the last 15 years???!!

They’ve had mainly positively changes. Our relatives are at Deal, Wilson and School Without Walls and great colleges. And has excellent experiences at Janney, Murch, Lafayette, Mann. Great community, involved parents, partnership with teachers and principal, not hamstrung but their medium sized Centeal Office. Capitol Hill friends also stay in the system and do charters. That Mundo school is super desired.

ESOL is a tiny portion of DCPS, and what few there are it is educated corporate families or World Bank/IMF assignments who stay in ESOl only 3-5 months. And play fantastic soccer.

Anacostia is Anacostia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

This is the problem. You clearly are in a neighborhood with high SES folks but the majority of MCPS is no longer in this category. Right now over 30% of all kids are on FARMS and the number of kids who have ever been on FARMS is around 40 something %. The FARMS number substantially undercounts kids living in poverty with low to no education parents. There is huge gap in education between old Montgomery County (people close to retirement age) and young families. The poverty is concentrated and growing within the younger demographic including young families.

Since all these high-poverty people could so easily live here, moco must be incredibly affordable compared to the rest of dc metro.

Who said anything about "easily"?

You cross the border with a minor, go to detention center a bit, get a free bus ride to your “cousin’s” house in Montgomery County Maryland. drop the kid off at local school, get a fake ID, go work your unskilled labor job for cash, send $1000 a month back to your family in the homeland so they can build a new house or send more “cousins” here. Easy peasy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

THE MAIN reason c2.0 was krap was the committee had to accommodate the illiterate ESOL Hispanic kids who can’t pass a proficiency test ever. The whole curriculum, subject matter (drop science, drop specials, drop PE to 1x/week, drop social studies), and duration of what was left (double math time, double ELA time) was to try and get those kids to frickin pass the dam Pearson’s test. p for proficient, you passed the low bar.
That didn’t work.
Next up, assignment and test retakes, rounded up to whole grade, no final exams, etc.

Do what now? Specials didn't get dropped. And PE (like the other specials, art and music) already was once a week.

That’s sad and pathetic. And never resulted in the kids learning better math and reading.

No wonder people are staying in NW DC. Plus their housing keeps appreciating like crazy each year.

[Anonymous]

THE MAIN reason c2.0 was krap was the committee had to accommodate the illiterate ESOL Hispanic kids who can’t pass a proficiency test ever.

No 2.0 failed because it was created by unqualified internal MCPS staff who then received no oversight or course correction when teachers and parents pointed out all the terrible problems. John Hopkins found a 30% error rate in the materials coming out of the curriculum department. Teachers saw early on how bad it was but they were blamed for not understanding it. Teacher training was ridiculous and did little more than throw out jargon and platitudes while never addressing any of the numerous problems in the curriculum. Parents complained early on but they were blamed for not being educated about so MCPS spent time on more PR bull shit.

The hispanic community complained too. They were vocal early on that they could not help their children with their school work because there were never any instructions, it was non sensical and there were no useful guides. They were ignored by MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe the charters in DC now educate almost half the students. And they’ve seen improvements in test scores in traditional public and the charters. Huge success, I would say.

MoCo is changing and maybe what always worked historically doesn’t work today.

Philly has also seen benefits from charter schools.

Charters or not, MCPS needs to undergo some major changes.

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

But a large portion of MoCo is similar to those urban areas.

LA educated families demanded charter schools. LA went from a top performing public school district to below average, families pulled out via moving or private/parochial, LA countered with charter schools, educated families went to those. LA continued to be below average test score for years and now way below as illiterate, unskilled, uneducated families surpassed the 50% mark of the community and public school district.

Now they have the worst performing schools in the nation, getting shoveled a ton of tax payer money with no results. Teachers union wants more money, but keeps delivering less teaching/student learning results.

Well, as a teacher myself, they DESERVE more money bc of the challenges they face each day. Results? Lol - When we flip the systems and demand that teachers are autonomous, that central office serves then, that discipline be restored, that teachers determine how to best instruct their kids, you'll see results.

Until then, you'll be part of a crumbling system that will implode very soon!

[Anonymous]

<sigh>

Things don’t look great for folks looking for old school MCPS - the world class education etc. My older kids had that and it’s served them well. But I have a younger child too, who has to contend with all the changes, divisiveness over boundary studies, and overcrowding ... and hopefully no permanent damage from Curriculum 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:<sigh>

Things don’t look great for folks looking for old school MCPS - the world class education etc. My older kids had that and it’s served them well. But I have a younger child too, who has to contend with all the changes, divisiveness over boundary studies, and overcrowding ... and hopefully no permanent damage from Curriculum 2.0.

Old-school MCPS had overcrowding. Just ask the people who were in school in Montgomery County in the 1960s and early 1970s. It had changes, too. And I bet that if there had been DCUM in those days, there would have been plenty of people lamenting the passing of the good old days (including de jure segregation).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Most of MoCo is suburban with families that have two parents who are highly educated and dual income earners. I do not expect to be treated as if I am in the same boat as large poor urban areas (DC. Chicago, New Orleans, L.A., Philly, Baltimore)

This is the problem. You clearly are in a neighborhood with high SES folks but the majority of MCPS is no longer in this category. Right now over 30% of all kids are on FARMS and the number of kids who have ever been on FARMS is around 40 something %. The FARMS number substantially undercounts kids living in poverty with low to no education parents. There is huge gap in education between old Montgomery County (people close to retirement age) and young families. The poverty is concentrated and growing within the younger demographic including young families.

Since all these high-poverty people could so easily live here, moco must be incredibly affordable compared to the rest of dc metro.

Who said anything about "easily"?

You cross the border with a minor, go to detention center a bit, get a free bus ride to your “cousin’s” house in Montgomery County Maryland. drop the kid off at local school, get a fake ID, go work your unskilled labor job for cash, send $1000 a month back to your family in the homeland so they can build a new house or send more “cousins” here. Easy peasy.

It would be very difficult for you to have any less idea than the no-idea you have now.

[Anonymous]

Print it out and read it. Might take you more than 30 seconds. It’s a fantastic report on the state of MoCo 2019. they didn’t have the balls to publicize it much nor summarize the worst points.

You can also go hang out in the MoCo SSA office and CASA de Maryland for a visual report on the state of illegal immigration and its welfare implications. Or stop by any East county elementary school the first several weeks of the school year for “Open Enrollment, dental checks, doctor checks, shots, and one-in-one counseling in Spanish and variable tribal dialects.”

I've had kids in three East County schools and none have dental checks, doctor's checks, or immunizations. All three are fantastic ideas, though, and I do hope those wrap-around services can be expanded to include more kids at economically diverse schools.

But it is instructive to read you rant about wraparound services just as others in this forum are arguing that boundary revisions shouldn't be undertaken because low-income kids should be given wrap-around services in their own neighborhoods. It turns out folks like you don't like those services much, either.