Starr on Kojo's Show on Math Acceleration

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the Pp, but would add that voting, too, is anonymous. We need to have a county-wide strike --where parents keep kids home to protest, or we picket in front of the schools. Something dramatic needs to happen in order to focus attention onto this mess. So far, MCPS hides behind misinformation, disinformation and a classic bureaucratic divide-and-conquer.
If parents marched and organized, do you really think the national news outlets could ignore the story?! I bet that would facilitate some answers, change and responsiveness from Starr and MCPS.

Helicopter moms of Bethesda, unite!

Yes, this is sure to make the front page of the NYT. Your insistence that Sophie and Jack are entitled to be taught math coursework 2 or 3 grades ahead is absolutely a vital national news story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He said that math acceleration has not been eliminated and will be provided to those who need it. My question is, how does MCPS determine who needs it? It certainly is not being provided in my kid's 3rd grade class. Everyone does the same thing.

Just might be that no one in your kids class deserves acceleration. By the way differentiation and acceleration are not the same.

I am not OP, but, honestly, it's hard to believe that in 3rd grade everyone are on the same level...

Well, it's easy for school to say that no one need acceleration, since there is no SOP to identify those kids... Wait, you might think that ES as a grade will show those who really excell and had to be challenged, hovewer, in our school none out of 50 kids in 1st grade never got ES as a grade
Again, I'm sceptical that none of the desereved it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the Pp, but would add that voting, too, is anonymous. We need to have a county-wide strike --where parents keep kids home to protest, or we picket in front of the schools. Something dramatic needs to happen in order to focus attention onto this mess. So far, MCPS hides behind misinformation, disinformation and a classic bureaucratic divide-and-conquer.
If parents marched and organized, do you really think the national news outlets could ignore the story?! I bet that would facilitate some answers, change and responsiveness from Starr and MCPS.

Helicopter moms of Bethesda, unite!

No pasaran!

[Anonymous]

The MAP M scores should identify who needs acceleration.

[Anonymous]

Helicopter moms of Bethesda, unite!

Yes, this is sure to make the front page of the NYT. Your insistence that Sophie and Jack are entitled to be taught math coursework 2 or 3 grades ahead is absolutely a vital national news story.

[Report Post]


Wrong issue. The issue is to return the potential pathway for willing and able children to advance in math. The issue is not about grade levels though an appropriate grade level for an individual child may theoretically span -2, -1, on grade level up to +3 or +4 above grade levels. The issue is not about moving a certain fixed percentage ahead or demoting or delaying a fixed percentage of kids. Subject mastery should be data driven. This will avoid some of the issues in the past when incompetent teachers and principals advanced incompetent students too far (to the tune of 40 percent of the class).

[Anonymous]

Starr is contemptuous of parents. You can hear it in his voice and as a subtle undertone in all his comments. It was obvious during his parent forum on gifted ed.

He doesn't care what you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starr is contemptuous of parents. You can hear it in his voice and as a subtle undertone in all his comments. It was obvious during his parent forum on gifted ed.

He doesn't care what you think.

I don't get that impression. On Kojo, he welcomed parent involvement in the County and said he wished 100% of the parents would be invovled. I suppose he could not mean what he says. He knew what he was getting into when he took the job. Maybe he has contempt for nastiness.

[Anonymous]

Starr is contemptuous of parents. You can hear it in his voice and as a subtle undertone in all his comments. It was obvious during his parent forum on gifted ed.

He doesn't care what you think.

Then explain to us why he is now saying, loud and clear for everyone th hear, MCPS has not eliminated acceleration pathways in math? Could it really be he is listening? He knows his head will roll with such a regreesive and preposterous move to prohibit math acceleration for the willing with mastery.

Do you think for one fleeting moment teachers, MCPS and Starr are not reading this Board?

[Anonymous]

The vital news story here is that the US NEEDS to do a better job of math and science education. Eliminating the potential to move ahead is scandalous.
Despite what some of the more cynical pps think, there ARE very smart kids in this county who would (and have in the past) thrive on accelerated/enriched math.
These aren't just "Bethesda kids with helicopter patents.". No, there are kids in Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Kensington, Bethesda and elsewhere who are this capable and who shouldn't be artificially stifled by this 2.0 curriculum. In fact, it is the kids in less affluent areas without helicopter parents who will duffer the most.

[Anonymous]

Suffer

[Anonymous]

I am proud to be a helicopter parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He said that math acceleration has not been eliminated and will be provided to those who need it. My question is, how does MCPS determine who needs it? It certainly is not being provided in my kid's 3rd grade class. Everyone does the same thing.

Just might be that no one in your kids class deserves acceleration. By the way differentiation and acceleration are not the same.

I am not OP, but, honestly, it's hard to believe that in 3rd grade everyone are on the same level...

Well, it's easy for school to say that no one need acceleration, since there is no SOP to identify those kids... Wait, you might think that ES as a grade will show those who really excell and had to be challenged, hovewer, in our school none out of 50 kids in 1st grade never got ES as a grade
Again, I'm sceptical that none of the desereved it...

Wow and the pp sarcastically said thanks for pointing out differentiation is not the same as acceleration.... Sarah palinism has taken hold on this issue with parents failing to understand that they do not understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Helicopter moms of Bethesda, unite!

Yes, this is sure to make the front page of the NYT. Your insistence that Sophie and Jack are entitled to be taught math coursework 2 or 3 grades ahead is absolutely a vital national news story.

[Report Post]


Wrong issue. The issue is to return the potential pathway for willing and able children to advance in math. The issue is not about grade levels though an appropriate grade level for an individual child may theoretically span -2, -1, on grade level up to +3 or +4 above grade levels. The issue is not about moving a certain fixed percentage ahead or demoting or delaying a fixed percentage of kids. Subject mastery should be data driven. This will avoid some of the issues in the past when incompetent teachers and principals advanced incompetent students too far (to the tune of 40 percent of the class).

Bingo! Someone here is paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am proud to be a helicopter parent.

I am a proud free-range parent. I give DD a lot of independence and responsibility. But I will fight for her right to learn more challenging material in school when she is ready for it just as I fight for her right to walk to the park or take public transportation alone when she feels ready and able to do so. I don't see how this is a "helicopter parent" issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am proud to be a helicopter parent.

I am a proud free-range parent. I give DD a lot of independence and responsibility. But I will fight for her right to learn more challenging material in school when she is ready for it just as I fight for her right to walk to the park or take public transportation alone when she feels ready and able to do so. I don't see how this is a "helicopter parent" issue.

Exactly couldn't agree more. I am in fact a helicopter parent who is giving 2.0 the benefit of the doubt. So the issue is not helicopter vs free range parent.