Been 1.5 years. How much longer without a superintendent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Plus 1. Don't kill the messenger. Until the school board understands that the teachers and school administration can only do so much to make up for lack of parental involvement we will be facing this issue.

That's what you think the reason for the issues is? Lack of parental involvement? Congratulations, you win today's award for Jaw-Dropping Oversimplification.

[Anonymous]

The exchange between the MCPS teacher and rude MCPS employee that you just saw, is a great example of how broken MCPS is from the inside. This plays out everywhere in MCPS. Innovation is frowned upon. There is never any accountability or critical self reflection. Its all about protecting the MCPS employees who are in place.

Teachers who raise any common sense concerns over the terrible curriculum, removing exams, the latest "trend" being forced down that has no evidence anywhere of efficacy but is really a cost savings measure, and more time being spent collecting data for MCPS than giving students feedback are immediately shut down. Everyone is expected to tow the party line as their number one priority, students come last.

This is why MCPS continues to decline. It will never begin to tackle any problems until it can create a culture of accountability and achievement within its own organization.

A new superintendent SHOULD be someone strong enough to be a change agent and clean house. The MCPS status quo loved Starr because he didn't do anything other than primp himself on social media. He was ineffective so they were all safe. The system needs someone tough and capable of running a large organization but the MCPS lifers will fight tooth and nail against this.

[Anonymous]

I am the person who awarded the PP the Jaw-Dropping Oversimplification award. I am not an MCPS employee, I have never been an MCPS employee, I will almost certainly never be an MCPS employee; I do not, have not, and almost certainly never will work for any other public school system, or any private school; and I'm actually pretty horrified that every time I post something that doesn't boil down to "MCPS is awful", somebody responds that I'm obviously an MCPS employee.

Why did you do that? Why did you assume that I must be an MCPS employee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Larry Bowers has really improved the PR machine at MCPS. Has anyone else noticed how snazzy the new communications have been? Maybe he will stay longer?

Was just saying this to DH today.

He put emails in a template with clip art. Is that really impressive?

My guess is that no one wants to take on a school board whose primary focus and criteria for success is closing the achievement gap in a huge county with an ever increasing uneducated immigrant population. It's an impossible metric.

Exactly. The only way to stop the achievement gap is to deport illegal aliens. All that $$ from increasing ESOL yearly could go to reading/math specialists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Exactly. The only way to stop the achievement gap is to deport illegal aliens. All that $$ from increasing ESOL yearly could go to reading/math specialists

1. MCPS has zero control over US immigration policy.
2. ESOL is federal law.
3. The majority of kids in ESOL are US citizens.

[Anonymous]

MCPS needs to focus on raising achievement across the board in rational ways. Curriculum 2.0 and the new grading system is the most anti-achievement educational approach ever conceived. Removing final exams is just one more attempt to hide the gap between different groups.

1. Stop teaching non-sense. Drop the idiotic MCPS homegrown 2.0 and use one of the solid curriculums that private and parochial schools acquire.
2. Go back to a normal grading system. You won't need to spend millions on grading systems if you drop the need to add custom categories for metacognition. Bring back consequences for poor academic achievement and reward for good academic achievement.
3. Re-instate unit tests. Guess what - if you don't pass, you don't move on. You repeat or you're in summer school.
4. Give homework. Normal homework like writing a book report, doing several pages of math problems, writing a paper.
5. Differentiate. 30 kids ranging from can't count to already know Algebra is not a workable solution.
6. Provide incentives for parental involvement. You want your kid in compacted math or a higher reading group? No problem - here is what YOU need to teach them and make sure they know to get in and stay in. Stop making it a closely guarded mystery and anointment based on random teacher and poorly training specialists.
7. Get rid of disorganized, ditzy, and I retired in place five years ago teachers. Encourage the new teachers to innovate with technology.
8. Set the principal's performance review (this is what drives what is actually done in every school) on the growth rate of students NOT on a % hitting the mediocre bar. Stop characterizing kids that achieve more than mediocrity as not needing anything.
9. If 90% of the school only speaks Spanish - make it a Spanish immersion school and teach in Spanish.
10. Cut salaries of MCPS employees back to where they were before Starr bankrupted the system giving raises that he couldn't afford. Use the funds to take class sizes back to a rational size, add aides into classrooms, bring back para educators.
11. Cut MCPS focus back to only educational mission only. Keep the social programs physically in the schools. This makes sense logistically but they should be run and budgeted out of Social Services not MCPS.
12. Re-organize the central office. Consolidate the numerous departments and size them down. Use the dollars from multiple reduced six figure department heads to hire someone with skills not an old crony.
13. Stop having education majors try to teach math. Ending the math exams does not solve the problem as to why MCPS students were failing math. Allow the math gifted students to accelerate and be taught by people who understand math. Allow the students that are math challenged to be taught by someone who understands math.
14. Stop thinking that the ultimate goal of MCPS is to feed more students into Montgomery Community College. It sucks too. Aim higher.

[Anonymous]

Get rid of trained teachers, replace them with parents. Add more testing. Ignore the fact that hungry kids don't learn well... Am I understanding your points..

[Anonymous]

You sound very dissatisfied with MCPS, PP. Maybe you would reduce your stress if you sent your child(ren) to a school that was not in MCPS? Or, if you work in MCPS, you might consider looking for a different job. I mean this sincerely. All that anger isn't good for anybody.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound very dissatisfied with MCPS, PP. Maybe you would reduce your stress if you sent your child(ren) to a school that was not in MCPS? Or, if you work in MCPS, you might consider looking for a different job. I mean this sincerely. All that anger isn't good for anybody.

Not the PP, but s/he sounds rational to me - not angry or crazy or stressed. There's always room for improvement, and not everyone with constructive feedback is a h8r

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to focus on raising achievement across the board in rational ways. Curriculum 2.0 and the new grading system is the most anti-achievement educational approach ever conceived. Removing final exams is just one more attempt to hide the gap between different groups.

1. Stop teaching non-sense. Drop the idiotic MCPS homegrown 2.0 and use one of the solid curriculums that private and parochial schools acquire.
2. Go back to a normal grading system. You won't need to spend millions on grading systems if you drop the need to add custom categories for metacognition. Bring back consequences for poor academic achievement and reward for good academic achievement.
3. Re-instate unit tests. Guess what - if you don't pass, you don't move on. You repeat or you're in summer school.
4. Give homework. Normal homework like writing a book report, doing several pages of math problems, writing a paper.
5. Differentiate. 30 kids ranging from can't count to already know Algebra is not a workable solution.
6. Provide incentives for parental involvement. You want your kid in compacted math or a higher reading group? No problem - here is what YOU need to teach them and make sure they know to get in and stay in. Stop making it a closely guarded mystery and anointment based on random teacher and poorly training specialists.
7. Get rid of disorganized, ditzy, and I retired in place five years ago teachers. Encourage the new teachers to innovate with technology.
8. Set the principal's performance review (this is what drives what is actually done in every school) on the growth rate of students NOT on a % hitting the mediocre bar. Stop characterizing kids that achieve more than mediocrity as not needing anything.
9. If 90% of the school only speaks Spanish - make it a Spanish immersion school and teach in Spanish.
10. Cut salaries of MCPS employees back to where they were before Starr bankrupted the system giving raises that he couldn't afford. Use the funds to take class sizes back to a rational size, add aides into classrooms, bring back para educators.
11. Cut MCPS focus back to only educational mission only. Keep the social programs physically in the schools. This makes sense logistically but they should be run and budgeted out of Social Services not MCPS.
12. Re-organize the central office. Consolidate the numerous departments and size them down. Use the dollars from multiple reduced six figure department heads to hire someone with skills not an old crony.
13. Stop having education majors try to teach math. Ending the math exams does not solve the problem as to why MCPS students were failing math. Allow the math gifted students to accelerate and be taught by people who understand math. Allow the students that are math challenged to be taught by someone who understands math.
14. Stop thinking that the ultimate goal of MCPS is to feed more students into Montgomery Community College. It sucks too. Aim higher.

You hit a lot of nails right on the head. I'm not completely on board with all of your solutions, but I'm in full agreement on the problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound very dissatisfied with MCPS, PP. Maybe you would reduce your stress if you sent your child(ren) to a school that was not in MCPS? Or, if you work in MCPS, you might consider looking for a different job. I mean this sincerely. All that anger isn't good for anybody.

Not the PP, but s/he sounds rational to me - not angry or crazy or stressed. There's always room for improvement, and not everyone with constructive feedback is a h8r

+1. She sounded like someone who has given this lots of thought. I agree with her on almost every point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound very dissatisfied with MCPS, PP. Maybe you would reduce your stress if you sent your child(ren) to a school that was not in MCPS? Or, if you work in MCPS, you might consider looking for a different job. I mean this sincerely. All that anger isn't good for anybody.

Not the PP, but s/he sounds rational to me - not angry or crazy or stressed. There's always room for improvement, and not everyone with constructive feedback is a h8r

+1. She sounded like someone who has given this lots of thought. I agree with her on almost every point.

I don't know enough about some issues raised to have an opinion but the majority of what was said, +1. And, this move to private refrain, such a cop out. MCPS can be better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS needs to focus on raising achievement across the board in rational ways. Curriculum 2.0 and the new grading system is the most anti-achievement educational approach ever conceived. Removing final exams is just one more attempt to hide the gap between different groups.

1. Stop teaching non-sense. Drop the idiotic MCPS homegrown 2.0 and use one of the solid curriculums that private and parochial schools acquire.
2. Go back to a normal grading system. You won't need to spend millions on grading systems if you drop the need to add custom categories for metacognition. Bring back consequences for poor academic achievement and reward for good academic achievement.
3. Re-instate unit tests. Guess what - if you don't pass, you don't move on. You repeat or you're in summer school.
4. Give homework. Normal homework like writing a book report, doing several pages of math problems, writing a paper.
5. Differentiate. 30 kids ranging from can't count to already know Algebra is not a workable solution.
6. Provide incentives for parental involvement. You want your kid in compacted math or a higher reading group? No problem - here is what YOU need to teach them and make sure they know to get in and stay in. Stop making it a closely guarded mystery and anointment based on random teacher and poorly training specialists.
7. Get rid of disorganized, ditzy, and I retired in place five years ago teachers. Encourage the new teachers to innovate with technology.
8. Set the principal's performance review (this is what drives what is actually done in every school) on the growth rate of students NOT on a % hitting the mediocre bar. Stop characterizing kids that achieve more than mediocrity as not needing anything.
9. If 90% of the school only speaks Spanish - make it a Spanish immersion school and teach in Spanish.
10. Cut salaries of MCPS employees back to where they were before Starr bankrupted the system giving raises that he couldn't afford. Use the funds to take class sizes back to a rational size, add aides into classrooms, bring back para educators.
11. Cut MCPS focus back to only educational mission only. Keep the social programs physically in the schools. This makes sense logistically but they should be run and budgeted out of Social Services not MCPS.
12. Re-organize the central office. Consolidate the numerous departments and size them down. Use the dollars from multiple reduced six figure department heads to hire someone with skills not an old crony.
13. Stop having education majors try to teach math. Ending the math exams does not solve the problem as to why MCPS students were failing math. Allow the math gifted students to accelerate and be taught by people who understand math. Allow the students that are math challenged to be taught by someone who understands math.
14. Stop thinking that the ultimate goal of MCPS is to feed more students into Montgomery Community College. It sucks too. Aim higher.

I disagree. This sounds like the Fox News edition of MCPS criticism. There are no schools where 90% of students only speak Spanish. There are no extravagant "social services" being offered (what is this even referring to? Free breakfast and flu shots?). The curriculum is not nonsense and the homework they receive is not abnormal. This is a cranky poster setting up false straw men.

[Anonymous]

Is a false strawman a real man?

[Anonymous]

The superintendent search committee is meeting this week.