Innovative Ideas to reduce educational disparity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that even in a diverse school, struggling students are usually in very different classes than successful students...right? The opportunity for role models is small. When MCPS looked at the differences between Twinbrook ES and the other schools in the RM cluster, Twinbrook parents were (understandably)not convinced their kids would be better off removed from small Title 1 classes to be bussed to a different school where they would have classes 2x the size. It is a very complex issue.

Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

DP.. are AP classes restricted to specific students in MCPS? I thought any student could take an AP class if they chose to? IB is different in that not all schools have IB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, parental involvement is something that cannot be solved by re-engineering the districts. I live in a wealthy public school district in the NYC suburbs and even with the relatively homoegeneous student population (racially diverse but not economically diverse), it is the students whose parents feel the school district should raise and educate their kids that have the worst outcomes.

Single parents and poor parents are struggling to put food on the plate, maybe working 2 jobs, or are suffering because they are unemployed and thus for a variety of reasons they cannot instill educational virtue into their children. Do we let such disadvanged children of disadvantaged parents (not saying being a single parent is a disadvantage, it’s a blessing of course but single parents will on average be more busy). No, by mixing the advanced students with the disadvanged... the disadvanged can watch, learn, see from the well performing peers how to be a better student. Better students get the benefit of being a role model. Also we can use the SSL requirement to our advantage. We can assign underperforming students to high achieving students and for SSL hours, they can tutor and assist with homework the academically challenged. Since the under performers need SSL hits too, since they too are experiencing a multicultural experience... they can get SSL hours for this type of learning. Since perhaps these children would be working after school to support the family, and not doing homework and now we’ve restricted their free time in this SSL-tutor model. We can pay these students a SSL credit ‘cash award’. Thus they learns that education pays dividends. A great lesson. This would be affordable because as they become better students, the county will spend much less on all the special programs.
Then think of the social benefits. New opportunity for boyfriend and girlfriend relationships outside the static stale undiverse options now available. Kids will learn poor kids are people too, learn rich kids aren’t so bad after all, colors religions creeds and cultural barriers break down as children enjoy their shared human experience. I know this sounds cheesy but point is these are real word lessons many don’t learn until they are an adult, now they can learn them when their life is dedicated to learning. When these kids grow up they will likely be more harmonious with ‘others’ more open minded, ideally less likely to partake in the divisive and partisan political behavior the current crop in office our forcing upon society. This isn’t ‘hope and change’ rhetoric but change we can work on to hopefully bring more peaceful and prosperous future for all of our children.

Isn’t this worth a try? You say it failed in NYC, their failure is our opportunity to improve. MoCo is growing and expanding with increases of immigrants and diverse peoples, do we throw our hands up and say it can be done, so we build more walls to live behind? Or do we embrace our new neighbors, friends, and in time,our new family members. Now is the time to embrace the future for our county.

Reading what you wrote makes me realize how idealistic you are. What you describe is a utopian society where the Larlos and Larlas collaboratively work together, all the time. There are so many issues involved: (1) do parents of poor children want their kids spending more time on the bus being truck across the county? (2) Does diversifying the school truly equally help both sides? (3) You are trying to fix an academic disparity issue with something that seems superficial rather than something that has deeper roots (4) To me, education starts at home. Parents of kids who prioritize education will likely have children who do well in school. (5) you are describing what I consider a socialist society.

I think the best way to close the achievement gap is to start early even before kids start Kindergarten. Provide programs in poorer areas during after school hours to motive kids and instill curiosity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that even in a diverse school, struggling students are usually in very different classes than successful students...right? The opportunity for role models is small. When MCPS looked at the differences between Twinbrook ES and the other schools in the RM cluster, Twinbrook parents were (understandably)not convinced their kids would be better off removed from small Title 1 classes to be bussed to a different school where they would have classes 2x the size. It is a very complex issue.

Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

DP.. are AP classes restricted to specific students in MCPS? I thought any student could take an AP class if they chose to? IB is different in that not all schools have IB classes.

They are not restricted but it is unlikely a student struggling in a grade level 10th grade English would request AP Lit in 11th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, parental involvement is something that cannot be solved by re-engineering the districts. I live in a wealthy public school district in the NYC suburbs and even with the relatively homoegeneous student population (racially diverse but not economically diverse), it is the students whose parents feel the school district should raise and educate their kids that have the worst outcomes.

Single parents and poor parents are struggling to put food on the plate, maybe working 2 jobs, or are suffering because they are unemployed and thus for a variety of reasons they cannot instill educational virtue into their children. Do we let such disadvanged children of disadvantaged parents (not saying being a single parent is a disadvantage, it’s a blessing of course but single parents will on average be more busy). No, by mixing the advanced students with the disadvanged... the disadvanged can watch, learn, see from the well performing peers how to be a better student. Better students get the benefit of being a role model. Also we can use the SSL requirement to our advantage. We can assign underperforming students to high achieving students and for SSL hours, they can tutor and assist with homework the academically challenged. Since the under performers need SSL hits too, since they too are experiencing a multicultural experience... they can get SSL hours for this type of learning. Since perhaps these children would be working after school to support the family, and not doing homework and now we’ve restricted their free time in this SSL-tutor model. We can pay these students a SSL credit ‘cash award’. Thus they learns that education pays dividends. A great lesson. This would be affordable because as they become better students, the county will spend much less on all the special programs.
Then think of the social benefits. New opportunity for boyfriend and girlfriend relationships outside the static stale undiverse options now available. Kids will learn poor kids are people too, learn rich kids aren’t so bad after all, colors religions creeds and cultural barriers break down as children enjoy their shared human experience. I know this sounds cheesy but point is these are real word lessons many don’t learn until they are an adult, now they can learn them when their life is dedicated to learning. When these kids grow up they will likely be more harmonious with ‘others’ more open minded, ideally less likely to partake in the divisive and partisan political behavior the current crop in office our forcing upon society. This isn’t ‘hope and change’ rhetoric but change we can work on to hopefully bring more peaceful and prosperous future for all of our children.

Isn’t this worth a try? You say it failed in NYC, their failure is our opportunity to improve. MoCo is growing and expanding with increases of immigrants and diverse peoples, do we throw our hands up and say it can be done, so we build more walls to live behind? Or do we embrace our new neighbors, friends, and in time,our new family members. Now is the time to embrace the future for our county.

Reading what you wrote makes me realize how idealistic you are. What you describe is a utopian society where the Larlos and Larlas collaboratively work together, all the time. There are so many issues involved: (1) do parents of poor children want their kids spending more time on the bus being truck across the county? (2) Does diversifying the school truly equally help both sides? (3) You are trying to fix an academic disparity issue with something that seems superficial rather than something that has deeper roots (4) To me, education starts at home. Parents of kids who prioritize education will likely have children who do well in school. (5) you are describing what I consider a socialist society.

I think the best way to close the achievement gap is to start early even before kids start Kindergarten. Provide programs in poorer areas during after school hours to motive kids and instill curiosity.

And doesn't MCPS do that already?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, parental involvement is something that cannot be solved by re-engineering the districts. I live in a wealthy public school district in the NYC suburbs and even with the relatively homoegeneous student population (racially diverse but not economically diverse), it is the students whose parents feel the school district should raise and educate their kids that have the worst outcomes.

Single parents and poor parents are struggling to put food on the plate, maybe working 2 jobs, or are suffering because they are unemployed and thus for a variety of reasons they cannot instill educational virtue into their children. Do we let such disadvanged children of disadvantaged parents (not saying being a single parent is a disadvantage, it’s a blessing of course but single parents will on average be more busy). No, by mixing the advanced students with the disadvanged... the disadvanged can watch, learn, see from the well performing peers how to be a better student. Better students get the benefit of being a role model. Also we can use the SSL requirement to our advantage. We can assign underperforming students to high achieving students and for SSL hours, they can tutor and assist with homework the academically challenged. Since the under performers need SSL hits too, since they too are experiencing a multicultural experience... they can get SSL hours for this type of learning. Since perhaps these children would be working after school to support the family, and not doing homework and now we’ve restricted their free time in this SSL-tutor model. We can pay these students a SSL credit ‘cash award’. Thus they learns that education pays dividends. A great lesson. This would be affordable because as they become better students, the county will spend much less on all the special programs.
Then think of the social benefits. New opportunity for boyfriend and girlfriend relationships outside the static stale undiverse options now available. Kids will learn poor kids are people too, learn rich kids aren’t so bad after all, colors religions creeds and cultural barriers break down as children enjoy their shared human experience. I know this sounds cheesy but point is these are real word lessons many don’t learn until they are an adult, now they can learn them when their life is dedicated to learning. When these kids grow up they will likely be more harmonious with ‘others’ more open minded, ideally less likely to partake in the divisive and partisan political behavior the current crop in office our forcing upon society. This isn’t ‘hope and change’ rhetoric but change we can work on to hopefully bring more peaceful and prosperous future for all of our children.

Isn’t this worth a try? You say it failed in NYC, their failure is our opportunity to improve. MoCo is growing and expanding with increases of immigrants and diverse peoples, do we throw our hands up and say it can be done, so we build more walls to live behind? Or do we embrace our new neighbors, friends, and in time,our new family members. Now is the time to embrace the future for our county.

Reading what you wrote makes me realize how idealistic you are. What you describe is a utopian society where the Larlos and Larlas collaboratively work together, all the time. There are so many issues involved: (1) do parents of poor children want their kids spending more time on the bus being truck across the county? (2) Does diversifying the school truly equally help both sides? (3) You are trying to fix an academic disparity issue with something that seems superficial rather than something that has deeper roots (4) To me, education starts at home. Parents of kids who prioritize education will likely have children who do well in school. (5) you are describing what I consider a socialist society.

I think the best way to close the achievement gap is to start early even before kids start Kindergarten. Provide programs in poorer areas during after school hours to motive kids and instill curiosity.

And doesn't MCPS do that already?

I think they need to beef it up a lot more. Putting a bandage on a bad situation just slows the bleeding but doesn't stop it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that even in a diverse school, struggling students are usually in very different classes than successful students...right? The opportunity for role models is small. When MCPS looked at the differences between Twinbrook ES and the other schools in the RM cluster, Twinbrook parents were (understandably)not convinced their kids would be better off removed from small Title 1 classes to be bussed to a different school where they would have classes 2x the size. It is a very complex issue.

Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

DP.. are AP classes restricted to specific students in MCPS? I thought any student could take an AP class if they chose to? IB is different in that not all schools have IB classes.

I don't think they are restricted per se, but come on, let's be real here. If you don't remember your multiplication tables and are reading at 4th grade level, you can sign up for AP Calculus and AP English all you want, the question is, what are you going to do there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that even in a diverse school, struggling students are usually in very different classes than successful students...right? The opportunity for role models is small. When MCPS looked at the differences between Twinbrook ES and the other schools in the RM cluster, Twinbrook parents were (understandably)not convinced their kids would be better off removed from small Title 1 classes to be bussed to a different school where they would have classes 2x the size. It is a very complex issue.

Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

No, that's not what is going to happen. "Wellbeing" students will sure sit in the same classroom with "the other students", but the other students will be so behind academically that the teacher will have to tailor lessons to their level to get at least some reaction out of them. That will water down the courses, "wellbeing" students will not learn anything, and there is still no guarantee that "the other students" catch up.

The achievement gap needs to be closed BEFORE middle school -- and not in high school AP classes - because, come middle school, it is already too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You realize that even in a diverse school, struggling students are usually in very different classes than successful students...right? The opportunity for role models is small. When MCPS looked at the differences between Twinbrook ES and the other schools in the RM cluster, Twinbrook parents were (understandably)not convinced their kids would be better off removed from small Title 1 classes to be bussed to a different school where they would have classes 2x the size. It is a very complex issue.

Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

DP.. are AP classes restricted to specific students in MCPS? I thought any student could take an AP class if they chose to? IB is different in that not all schools have IB classes.

I don't think they are restricted per se, but come on, let's be real here. If you don't remember your multiplication tables and are reading at 4th grade level, you can sign up for AP Calculus and AP English all you want, the question is, what are you going to do there?

PP here.. agreed. But the ^^PP made it sound like AP classes were not open to all.

[Anonymous]

You need to get the parents involved. If parents can't or won't be involved, the school will never get better for most of those kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to get the parents involved. If parents can't or won't be involved, the school will never get better for most of those kids.

Involved, how?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Peoviding equal opportunity means open all AP and IB classes to every student in MCPS, regardless the grade and classes a student took. Wellbeing students will sit in the same classroom with the other students. All students will learn and success!

"Well being" students starts at home. MCPS can only do so much. It can provide an interesting and challenging curriculum (which it has failed in the past to do); it can hire the best teachers (which is hard to do given how this society doesn't seem to want to pay teachers very well); it can provide a safe learning environment by addressing bullying etc..

What MCPS cannot ever do is to make sure all students have a decent home life.

I grew up low income. I had several friends who were also low income. I made it to college with good grades, albeit a C rated college because I couldn't afford better, while my friends didn't. The difference was home life. My parents were not perfect. They fought a lot, and we had a lot of verbal and sometimes physical abuse in the home. However, they were strict regarding curfew and always asked if we finished our HW, even though they didn't know how to read/speak English. They were good role models in terms of working hard, and it impressed upon me that education was the key to not struggling financially. My friends' parents weren't as strict and didn't pay attention to their education.

The adage "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink it" applies here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get the parents involved. If parents can't or won't be involved, the school will never get better for most of those kids.

Involved, how?

DP.. care about the kids' education. Make sure the kids do their HW and tell the kids to get a good education. A parent doesn't necessarily have to be able to help with HW, though that definitely helps. MCPS provides Saturday school and summer classes for struggling students. I took a math summer class once in MS (not in MCPS). It enabled me to take more advanced math class in HS.

I grew up low income with parents who didn't speak English. And I was a latch key kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get the parents involved. If parents can't or won't be involved, the school will never get better for most of those kids.

Involved, how?

DP.. care about the kids' education. Make sure the kids do their HW and tell the kids to get a good education. A parent doesn't necessarily have to be able to help with HW, though that definitely helps. MCPS provides Saturday school and summer classes for struggling students. I took a math summer class once in MS (not in MCPS). It enabled me to take more advanced math class in HS.

I grew up low income with parents who didn't speak English. And I was a latch key kid.

Most parents care about their kids' education, don't they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get the parents involved. If parents can't or won't be involved, the school will never get better for most of those kids.

Involved, how?

DP.. care about the kids' education. Make sure the kids do their HW and tell the kids to get a good education. A parent doesn't necessarily have to be able to help with HW, though that definitely helps. MCPS provides Saturday school and summer classes for struggling students. I took a math summer class once in MS (not in MCPS). It enabled me to take more advanced math class in HS.

I grew up low income with parents who didn't speak English. And I was a latch key kid.

Most parents care about their kids' education, don't they?

Well, that's the problem, isn't it?

[Anonymous]

They started doing this in Philadelphia in the late sixties. How is it working there?