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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s actually a false stereotype. Special Education is for students with disabilities who have an educational impact because of their disabilities and they need Special Education services because of the educational impact. Not all students with disabilities are below grade level and students can take above grade level classes with an IEP.

A Special Education teacher is considered to be highly skilled because they often have at least a Master’s degree with specialized training on how to teach students with disabilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s actually a false stereotype. Special Education is for students with disabilities who have an educational impact because of their disabilities and they need Special Education services because of the educational impact. Not all students with disabilities are below grade level and students can take above grade level classes with an IEP.

A Special Education teacher is considered to be highly skilled because they often have at least a Master’s degree with specialized training on how to teach students with disabilities.

Or they simply use the higher ED levels to justify higher pay levels to incentivize teachers taking the hardest groups to reach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

That’s actually a false stereotype. Special Education is for students with disabilities who have an educational impact because of their disabilities and they need Special Education services because of the educational impact. Not all students with disabilities are below grade level and students can take above grade level classes with an IEP.

A Special Education teacher is considered to be highly skilled because they often have at least a Master’s degree with specialized training on how to teach students with disabilities.

Or they simply use the higher ED levels to justify higher pay levels to incentivize teachers taking the hardest groups to reach.

People that care for the disabled aren't doing it because they have been "incentivized"

Your comment is SO far from humane... sad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Thank you for posting this on DCUM.
I support the work of the Gifted Education Committee.

One of my children was shut out of a seat at a magnet middle school, despite excellent grades and high MAP scores, and finding CES instruction very easy. The lottery discriminates against high-performing students, and relegates them to general education classes that cannot be sufficiently adjusted, despite the best efforts of the teachers. As a result, my child hates school, because she spends her school days rather bored and frustrated.

Not only that, but MCPS does not implement equal access to accelerated classes in each of their schools. I learned that some middle schools offered Algebra 1 to 6th graders in reasonably good standing, but my child's middle school refused her entry to that class, despite consistently high MAP-M scores, and despite administering a test the summer before 6th grade, on which she answered most questions correctly. I was shown that test: it consisted mostly of Algebra 1 content. She was asked to do well on the content of the class she was asking to enroll in, not on the content of class she was asking to skip! And, when she made a few mistakes, she was refused entry.

It's incredibly short-sighted of MCPS to abandon a portion of the students they serve, the very group that has the potential to do great things, and increase the risk that they become un-motivated, depressed and isolated because they are not adequately challenged.

Many kids are shut out. High map is subjective.

So lucky dip / lottery sounds objective according to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

They haven't done much of anything and nothing has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

They haven't done much of anything and nothing has changed.

ELC was rolled out to many schools this year and will be rolled out to all non-immersion schools as of next year. Would not have happened without their advocacy, and all the people they got involved in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

They haven't done much of anything and nothing has changed.

ELC was rolled out to many schools this year and will be rolled out to all non-immersion schools as of next year. Would not have happened without their advocacy, and all the people they got involved in it.

It was planned to roll out before...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

They haven't done much of anything and nothing has changed.

ELC was rolled out to many schools this year and will be rolled out to all non-immersion schools as of next year. Would not have happened without their advocacy, and all the people they got involved in it.

It was planned to roll out before...

It absolutely was not. It has been on hold until MCCPTA started a campaign to bring it to more schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

Agree. The gifted committee is doing a good job of at least trying to hold MCPS accountable.

ELC is a great course! So glad to see it expanding instead of horrid Benchmark

They haven't done much of anything and nothing has changed.

ELC was rolled out to many schools this year and will be rolled out to all non-immersion schools as of next year. Would not have happened without their advocacy, and all the people they got involved in it.

It was planned to roll out before...

It absolutely was not. It has been on hold until MCCPTA started a campaign to bring it to more schools.

[Anonymous]

Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

My DS experienced this. The one enriched course offered was mixed-ability and jam-packed. He was not peer cohorted and one of the department heads admitted the school did not believe in that. It's ridiculous but in the end we saw MS as a break between magnet ES and magnet HS. He had more time to focus on extracurriculars and more time to relax, and we provided enrichment at home. He was raring to go to the magnet HS, and it all turned out fine. But, yes, the rationale is complete BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

This has been an issue for many many years. They aren't doing anything. Its all for show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

This has been an issue for many many years. They aren't doing anything. Its all for show.

+1. It is BS and nobody at MCPS cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

This has been an issue for many many years. They aren't doing anything. Its all for show.

+1. It is BS and nobody at MCPS cares.

Nobody at a hgh enough level to have the purview to make changes in this regard has the political or managerial interest to do so.