Virginia and Maryland among top 5 schools in the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For Maryland - then why is the state requesting a significant increase in funding via the Kirwan Commission report? Like increase in billions…. This is literally because US News reporters don’t make enough, live in Moco and have created a self licking ice cream cone report to make themselves feel good. Sorry for pushing a comical conspiracy but this report is a joke.

The billion you refer to is create a standard starting salary of $60k for beginning teachers as well as promoting workforce training in the highschools. The bill has passed BUT they havent actually approved the money yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As always they put a heavy focus on metrics that high-SES, majority white schools would inherently excel at. So of course, we see the East Coast on top as usual.

Maryland and Virginia are a LOT less “majority white” than most states.

NP.. it's really about SES/income.

FCPS has less FARMs students than MCPS.

Generally, the rankings are a proxy to income and education level of the populace.

Schools in the W cluster in MCPS will rank highest; schools in the eastern county that have a high FARMs rate will rank very low.

CA, NY have a high rate of FARMS students, but there are pockets of really high income, and those schools do really well (I'm originally from CA).

I think it's mostly about the education level of the parents. Kids that come from educated families will generally become educated themselves.

Immigrants from Asia and Africa are often college graduates, but many of them cannot find lucrative jobs. Language barriers, lack of credentialing, and/or lack of a professional network are major hurdles. However, their kids often turn out to be good students despite that lack of income. Goes back to the education of their parents.

Income is important too, but I think education matters more. It's just easier to villainize high SES people.

I'm a high SES person and I never took conversations like this to be about vilifying me. I think it means we should STOP vilifying teachers and kids at low SES schools. We can't allow schools to remain hypersegregated and then say, oh gee, I wonder why they're not performing like this high SES school, must be bad teaching/bad kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Youngkin and all the histrionic ninnies whining about MCPS and Nova schools can just suck it. Long and hard.

https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-maryland-2022-best-worst-school-systems-districts-nationwide-united-states-new-wallethub-study-survey-massachusetts-new-mexico-dmv-dc-washington-ranking-top-teacher-dropout-rates-standardized-test-scores

Can we recall that moron now?

Younkin made VA schools great.

[Anonymous]

All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a fan of Youngkin but this report, along with all the other useless rankings from US News and such, is practically meaningless. They take some pretty far-fetched, self-reported survey data into account with a completely arbitrary weighting. As always they put a heavy focus on metrics that high-SES, majority white schools would inherently excel at. So of course, we see the East Coast on top as usual.

I take issue with this because it takes away from the real efforts of teachers and school staff who serve challenging districts. Are teachers and schools in last place states terrible? No, they just aren't lucky to serve a high-SES population.

I prefer these metrics because it shows that low SES are often not performing as well. This is important to know. Without this data, the government and administrators are shooting blind. It doesn’t mean the teachers are bad or the students are dumb. Stop thinking that.

It doesn’t take away from their effort but it lets them know “how are we doing?”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

In MoCo, Title1 schools in ES have smaller classes, as do Focus schools, but not as small. It's the upper levels, IMO, that's the issue wrt to large class sizes.

They could hire more teacher aides, but they wouldn't necessarily be able to make smaller class sizes because so many HSs are over crowded as it is. There's no room to make smaller class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Youngkin and all the histrionic ninnies whining about MCPS and Nova schools can just suck it. Long and hard.

https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-maryland-2022-best-worst-school-systems-districts-nationwide-united-states-new-wallethub-study-survey-massachusetts-new-mexico-dmv-dc-washington-ranking-top-teacher-dropout-rates-standardized-test-scores

Can we recall that moron now?

Younkin made VA schools great.

The data precedes him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

In MoCo, Title1 schools in ES have smaller classes, as do Focus schools, but not as small. It's the upper levels, IMO, that's the issue wrt to large class sizes.

They could hire more teacher aides, but they wouldn't necessarily be able to make smaller class sizes because so many HSs are over crowded as it is. There's no room to make smaller class sizes.

Hate to break it to you but there is NO evidence lower class size leads to higher achievement. In Asia class sizes are capped at 50 kids! As to MCPS, I think they basically are a jobs program that cares more about the adults and jobs than any ‘equity’ issues. It’s just the new con to try to fill more positions. Granted, after COVID that is becoming difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

In MoCo, Title1 schools in ES have smaller classes, as do Focus schools, but not as small. It's the upper levels, IMO, that's the issue wrt to large class sizes.

They could hire more teacher aides, but they wouldn't necessarily be able to make smaller class sizes because so many HSs are over crowded as it is. There's no room to make smaller class sizes.

Hate to break it to you but there is NO evidence lower class size leads to higher achievement. In Asia class sizes are capped at 50 kids! As to MCPS, I think they basically are a jobs program that cares more about the adults and jobs than any ‘equity’ issues. It’s just the new con to try to fill more positions. Granted, after COVID that is becoming difficult.

Lower class sizes are still better. Asia can make it work in some countries due to a cultural focus on education that we don't have. Doesn't make large class sizes better.

However, Title 1 schools have smaller class sizes, and it hasn't proven sufficient to close the achievement gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Youngkin and all the histrionic ninnies whining about MCPS and Nova schools can just suck it. Long and hard.

https://wjla.com/news/local/virginia-maryland-2022-best-worst-school-systems-districts-nationwide-united-states-new-wallethub-study-survey-massachusetts-new-mexico-dmv-dc-washington-ranking-top-teacher-dropout-rates-standardized-test-scores

Can we recall that moron now?

You are the moron, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

In MoCo, Title1 schools in ES have smaller classes, as do Focus schools, but not as small. It's the upper levels, IMO, that's the issue wrt to large class sizes.

They could hire more teacher aides, but they wouldn't necessarily be able to make smaller class sizes because so many HSs are over crowded as it is. There's no room to make smaller class sizes.

Hate to break it to you but there is NO evidence lower class size leads to higher achievement. In Asia class sizes are capped at 50 kids! As to MCPS, I think they basically are a jobs program that cares more about the adults and jobs than any ‘equity’ issues. It’s just the new con to try to fill more positions. Granted, after COVID that is becoming difficult.

Lower class sizes are still better. Asia can make it work in some countries due to a cultural focus on education that we don't have. Doesn't make large class sizes better.

However, Title 1 schools have smaller class sizes, and it hasn't proven sufficient to close the achievement gap.

This is the problem I have with American educators. There is no evidence class size makes a difference; you agree and then say it is still better. It’s like the phonics debate - phonics works yet MCPS has little to no phonics. Ulrich Boser writes on this in his book Learn Better / until we get smarter people who follow actual empirical evidence in our classrooms I fear we won’t be able to improve our schools. No wonder MCPS has seen no improvement in the results of their poverty kids. They follow what they ‘feel’ works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is that some school districts in Virginia and Maryland are getting some high scores and high graduation rates and all you have to do to find them is follow the money. It does not mean that school districts in more rural and poor areas have high scores and high graduation rates too.

True.

Baltimore and Richmond have real ****-hole neighborhoods with failing public schools (all unionized, BTW), where generation after generation of kids face a doomed future due to lack of education.

But let’s continue to ignore those schools.

I don't know about VA, but here in MoCo, the BOE and MCPS tries all kinds of different things for those lower performing schools and closing the achievement gap. Of course, whatever they are doing is barely making a dent, and VL for a year made that gap worse.

I’m a teacher at one of these schools. What they won’t do is mandate smaller classes. When I have 30+ kids in one class, many who are several grade levels behind, it is tough to give the kids the attention they need. If I had 20 kids per class, I think it would help a lot

In MoCo, Title1 schools in ES have smaller classes, as do Focus schools, but not as small. It's the upper levels, IMO, that's the issue wrt to large class sizes.

They could hire more teacher aides, but they wouldn't necessarily be able to make smaller class sizes because so many HSs are over crowded as it is. There's no room to make smaller class sizes.

Hate to break it to you but there is NO evidence lower class size leads to higher achievement. In Asia class sizes are capped at 50 kids! As to MCPS, I think they basically are a jobs program that cares more about the adults and jobs than any ‘equity’ issues. It’s just the new con to try to fill more positions. Granted, after COVID that is becoming difficult.

Lower class sizes are still better. Asia can make it work in some countries due to a cultural focus on education that we don't have. Doesn't make large class sizes better.

However, Title 1 schools have smaller class sizes, and it hasn't proven sufficient to close the achievement gap.

This is the problem I have with American educators. There is no evidence class size makes a difference; you agree and then say it is still better. It’s like the phonics debate - phonics works yet MCPS has little to no phonics. Ulrich Boser writes on this in his book Learn Better / until we get smarter people who follow actual empirical evidence in our classrooms I fear we won’t be able to improve our schools. No wonder MCPS has seen no improvement in the results of their poverty kids. They follow what they ‘feel’ works.

I’m just saying you can’t use Asia as an example. Cram schools are a norm in certain parts of Asia. Those same countries often don’t have compulsory high school. Kids that can’t test into public high school or pay for private high school get left in the dust.

Large class sizes are easier when you take away the lowest achievers from the school system. America is just different.