Is MCPS that much different than DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TPMS and know several families at Deal. Some of the differences I’m aware of:

- at my kids school the online submission is on one system and straightforward. I understand at Deal there are multiple systems. He can see at a glance what is due and when and if I’m interested I can too. (Full disclosure: it is Canvas). Grading is for the most part transparent.
- At Deal almost all work is online, I think? At TPMS the chrome books stay on a cart at least some of the time (other MCPS middle schools have a different model)
- there is no security screening at TPMS - I’m guessing this is the case throughout the county but not certain. I’ve heard complaints that this is time consuming at Deal.
- Spanish in middle school in MCPS is tough. It’s high school level and it’s rigorous.

As far as the teachers, they are typically very experienced, but that will vary by MCPS middle school.

uh.. what? Maybe it's school/teacher/kid dependent? My kid slept through Spanish A, B, 2 and a bit in 3 - straight As.

Isn’t the bolded true about any class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TPMS and know several families at Deal. Some of the differences I’m aware of:

- at my kids school the online submission is on one system and straightforward. I understand at Deal there are multiple systems. He can see at a glance what is due and when and if I’m interested I can too. (Full disclosure: it is Canvas). Grading is for the most part transparent.
- At Deal almost all work is online, I think? At TPMS the chrome books stay on a cart at least some of the time (other MCPS middle schools have a different model)
- there is no security screening at TPMS - I’m guessing this is the case throughout the county but not certain. I’ve heard complaints that this is time consuming at Deal.
- Spanish in middle school in MCPS is tough. It’s high school level and it’s rigorous.

As far as the teachers, they are typically very experienced, but that will vary by MCPS middle school.

uh.. what? Maybe it's school/teacher/kid dependent? My kid slept through Spanish A, B, 2 and a bit in 3 - straight As.

Well doing 1A and B separately is slow and easy. But Spanish 3 hons in 8th grade is tough. You are expected to speak only Spanish in class and write essays, letters and give presentations in Spanish. My kid has straight As too but he actually has to work at it, unlike his other classes and he has to spend time studying the vocabulary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at TPMS and know several families at Deal. Some of the differences I’m aware of:

- at my kids school the online submission is on one system and straightforward. I understand at Deal there are multiple systems. He can see at a glance what is due and when and if I’m interested I can too. (Full disclosure: it is Canvas). Grading is for the most part transparent.
- At Deal almost all work is online, I think? At TPMS the chrome books stay on a cart at least some of the time (other MCPS middle schools have a different model)
- there is no security screening at TPMS - I’m guessing this is the case throughout the county but not certain. I’ve heard complaints that this is time consuming at Deal.
- Spanish in middle school in MCPS is tough. It’s high school level and it’s rigorous.

As far as the teachers, they are typically very experienced, but that will vary by MCPS middle school.

uh.. what? Maybe it's school/teacher/kid dependent? My kid slept through Spanish A, B, 2 and a bit in 3 - straight As.

Well doing 1A and B separately is slow and easy. But Spanish 3 hons in 8th grade is tough. You are expected to speak only Spanish in class and write essays, letters and give presentations in Spanish. My kid has straight As too but he actually has to work at it, unlike his other classes and he has to spend time studying the vocabulary.

Our school does not offer a slow track - you do both A and B in a year; there is no option to extend them out over 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

PP’s point was that if they can skip the homework and get an A on the test, why should anyone care? They have accurately assessed the worth of the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

PP’s point was that if they can skip the homework and get an A on the test, why should anyone care? They have accurately assessed the worth of the work.

DP.. do you have teens? Many don't care about skipping HW even if they are not getting good grades in class.

For those who want good grades, yes, they need more practice, particularly in math.

I bet some think parents should supplement if they want more work for their kids because it's not the responsibility of the school district to provide that extra work, yet at the same time, decry parents who supplement because it's "unfair"?

Parents wouldn't have to supplement if the schools did their dam* job. But, of course, "equity".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

PP’s point was that if they can skip the homework and get an A on the test, why should anyone care? They have accurately assessed the worth of the work.

DP.. do you have teens? Many don't care about skipping HW even if they are not getting good grades in class.

For those who want good grades, yes, they need more practice, particularly in math.

I bet some think parents should supplement if they want more work for their kids because it's not the responsibility of the school district to provide that extra work, yet at the same time, decry parents who supplement because it's "unfair"?

Parents wouldn't have to supplement if the schools did their dam* job. But, of course, "equity".

Yup! You nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

PP’s point was that if they can skip the homework and get an A on the test, why should anyone care? They have accurately assessed the worth of the work.

Don't you think it's unfair to say, "Those who are doing fine without homework are good so there's no problem," without considering that the kids who are currently getting C's could be getting B's if HW was required and not optional. Or more importantly, the kids who are getting D's without homework could be getting C's if HW and practice were required, weighted accordingly and become an ingrained habit.

But when your baseline is that you don't care about optimal or best outcomes for students, then I guess you don't care about setting kids up for success and to reach their full potential.

[Anonymous]

Mcps is getting bad, it has fallen badly but it’s still a lot better than dcps

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

LOL I truly wonder if you grasp human behavior, psychology and how incentives work. If it is optional and there's no penalty for not doing, 90% of people will opt to not do it.

And I will tell you that 90% of kids don't do optional homework. What would be the point? The teachers don't even look at it to provide feedback, even if you're willing to forego a grade for it.

PP’s point was that if they can skip the homework and get an A on the test, why should anyone care? They have accurately assessed the worth of the work.

Don't you think it's unfair to say, "Those who are doing fine without homework are good so there's no problem," without considering that the kids who are currently getting C's could be getting B's if HW was required and not optional. Or more importantly, the kids who are getting D's without homework could be getting C's if HW and practice were required, weighted accordingly and become an ingrained habit.

But when your baseline is that you don't care about optimal or best outcomes for students, then I guess you don't care about setting kids up for success and to reach their full potential.

To some, social emotional learning, making sure that they don't feel uncomfortable with an SRO in the school, even though we've now had two lockdowns in two weeks in two HS, are all more important than HW and good grades.

Hence the "honors" in all the HS classes, no HW, 50% grading policy, remove all SROs, RJ. I am not sure who MCPS thinks this is all serving in the end because all this BS just make kids lazier and have no accountability for their bad behavior.

And then they wonder why there is still an achievement gap, which is growing every year, and why some adults don't know how to read higher than a 5th grade level, or why there is an uptick in violence in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

I'm a high school teacher and to me, homework is not optional. It is because you do not have enough time in class to both prepare and teach. This is why kids are not reading books anymore. If you want your child to read a book and then spend class time discussing, analyzing and writing, then reading the book has to be done at home. The teachers who are trying to fit everything into 45-50 minutes a day will not end up teaching your child a lot of substance. You either teach during class and do homework at home or you do a flipped version with teaching videos at home and homework at school. You can't do both at school.

[Anonymous]

Publics are all trash. Covid exposed the rot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

I'm a high school teacher and to me, homework is not optional. It is because you do not have enough time in class to both prepare and teach. This is why kids are not reading books anymore. If you want your child to read a book and then spend class time discussing, analyzing and writing, then reading the book has to be done at home. The teachers who are trying to fit everything into 45-50 minutes a day will not end up teaching your child a lot of substance. You either teach during class and do homework at home or you do a flipped version with teaching videos at home and homework at school. You can't do both at school.

This makes sense. Thank you for bringing an authentic educator's perspective to this discussion on HW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I often see lots of complaints about homework in MS/HS about it being optional, which I don’t understand. Homework is meant for the student not a grade. It’s for student practice, catch-up, to be prepared to engage in class with the learning/teachers/peers, to allow students to determine if they are comfortable with the material and if not seek help/guidance.

Some will say that if it’s optional, students will just not do it. Maybe true maybe not, but that is the student/family choice. The same way folks are choosing supplemental classes and extracurriculars, they could choose to do the HW.

I'm a high school teacher and to me, homework is not optional. It is because you do not have enough time in class to both prepare and teach. This is why kids are not reading books anymore. If you want your child to read a book and then spend class time discussing, analyzing and writing, then reading the book has to be done at home. The teachers who are trying to fit everything into 45-50 minutes a day will not end up teaching your child a lot of substance. You either teach during class and do homework at home or you do a flipped version with teaching videos at home and homework at school. You can't do both at school.

This makes sense. Thank you for bringing an authentic educator's perspective to this discussion on HW.

+1 the teacher PP had to explain something that is obvious and common sense to some people, I guess.

[Anonymous]

It's going to be very similar in MCPS. We went from DCPS to MCPS 5 years ago thinking we'd get better schools. We're now in private because MCPS is just as disorganized and incompetent. That fact became particularly evident during COVID. Looking back, I wish we had just kept our house in DC and started private then.