Seniors and families: your MCPS experience

[Anonymous]

To families who have HS seniors and are leaving mcps this year: what is one piece of advice or wisdom about mcps or in general you want to leave parents of younger students?

[Anonymous]

Get familiar with the awful gradebook thingy in ParentVue and hope for the best with that.

[Anonymous]

Get involved and stay involved. It’s more important when your kids are older than when they’re in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get involved and stay involved. It’s more important when your kids are older than when they’re in ES.

What should parents be involved in?

[Anonymous]

Go private.

[Anonymous]

My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get involved and stay involved. It’s more important when your kids are older than when they’re in ES.

Yes. I echo this 100%.

Do NOT fall for the myth and the lie that MCPS is a “good” school system. That is a legacy reputation that IS NOT the present reality.

Be vigilant, be an advocate for your child and hold MCPS accountable for their mistakes and failures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved and stay involved. It’s more important when your kids are older than when they’re in ES.

What should parents be involved in?

The way I stayed/stay involved is mostly volunteering and there are tons of opportunities for that. I also hosted sports teams parties and attended games of sports my kids weren’t even in if the sports were popular and my kids wanted to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

Ehhh. Six APs are doable because some APs are less intense than others and some teachers are more capable and organized to teach and teach AP level classes without causing unnecessary drama for upperclassmen.

[Anonymous]

Also do not believe everything you read here. Many/Most kids leave MCPS with a solid education, do well in college, and have successful careers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get involved and stay involved. It’s more important when your kids are older than when they’re in ES.

Yes. I echo this 100%.

Do NOT fall for the myth and the lie that MCPS is a “good” school system. That is a legacy reputation that IS NOT the present reality.

Be vigilant, be an advocate for your child and hold MCPS accountable for their mistakes and failures.

How?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also do not believe everything you read here. Many/Most kids leave MCPS with a solid education, do well in college, and have successful careers.

?Because they come from families who ensure those things for them or encourage them towards that path? Privileged families?

[Anonymous]

Start your kid in a sport while they are still in your womb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also do not believe everything you read here. Many/Most kids leave MCPS with a solid education, do well in college, and have successful careers.

Central Office has arrived. Hey, Cram!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

Ehhh. Six APs are doable because some APs are less intense than others and some teachers are more capable and organized to teach and teach AP level classes without causing unnecessary drama for upperclassmen.

PP you replied to. Sure, but the point is that you need to know that in advance, and not have a kid weigh themselves down with AP Calc BC, AP Phys C, AP English Lit, AP World History, AP Foreign Language and another AP all in one year. Most kids wouldn't like that

To that end, here's a handy dandy graphic to start figuring out which APs are which: