MCCPTA Gifted Education Committee's Complaint about Systemic Failures by MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apologies if this has been discussed-- does anyone know if the Committee is addressing MCPS's statement that G&T kids who were in the lottery for the middle school magnets would be fine at their home school because they would be with their peer cohort? I feel like they lied to our face!

My 7th grader reads at the college level, and yet all of the kids are enrolled in "Advanced English." There are kids in her class who are reading at lower-elementary level. Putting these kids of different abilities together in one class doesn't serve anyone!

This has been an issue for many many years. They aren't doing anything. Its all for show.

+1. It is BS and nobody at MCPS cares.

Nobody at a hgh enough level to have the purview to make changes in this regard has the political or managerial interest to do so.

It’s odd, because the result is that it pushes a lot of families to move to private that would otherwise have not considered it and I believe that actually makes MCPS happy. It is not clear to me what kind of school system they want but they seem to be uncomfortable with having a high performing one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

Kids at the bottom in MCPS being ignored? Not at all. In my experience they get 90% of the resoruces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

Kids at the bottom in MCPS being ignored? Not at all. In my experience they get 90% of the resoruces.

Kids at the bottom who have family resources behind them (to get the necessary 504s/IEPs) get a lot of reaources. Kids in low-SES areas get a few extra reaources, but not enough to get to parity in educational opportunity. All kids are shorted by the combination of system inefficiency, whether from poor management, graft or politics, and decades-long County underfunding versus needs: population growth, aging infrastrucure/techinal debt, advancing standards/expectations, increased salary requirements to attract/retain qualified teachers (not to memtion really good ones), etc.

The Council needs to stop undercutting (e.g., developer exemptions from impact taxes) and make school funding a higher priority than they have been allowing, notwithstanding the large amount spent -- that's a red herring serving only the well-to-do. It's as if they have been progressive in name only all this time. Nothing has as much potential to reduce societal disparities. Harkening back a few decades in pop culture:

"...education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet."

[Anonymous]

Bumping this thread, which is still relevant. Nothing has changed, unfortunately. I urge everyone to read the complaint. It’s been years and, if anything, MCPS has gotten worse — for example, cutting ELC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

Kids at the bottom in MCPS being ignored? Not at all. In my experience they get 90% of the resoruces.

No, as a teacher, my experience is that they do not get 90% of resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

I didn't read that as saying kids in the middle and bottom get "trickle down." I read it as nothing that wealthy parents advocating for, for example, ELC at every single MCPS school, benefited everyone including kids at some of the highest needs schools in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

I didn't read that as saying kids in the middle and bottom get "trickle down." I read it as nothing that wealthy parents advocating for, for example, ELC at every single MCPS school, benefited everyone including kids at some of the highest needs schools in the county.

Agree. Kids who are advanced in reading/writing but have parents without resources to supplement are the ones who are especially harmed when gifted programming is not provided across the county. Parents with means can and do supplement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm grateful to the MCCPTA for their advocacy here. While gifted kids with involved parents will likely be fine, MCPS isn't just failing those kids. It is also failing gifted kids without involved parents, gifted kids who are URMs, gifted kids who are poor/working class, and gifted kids who also have learning differences.

While the advocacy may be led by well-connected parents, it benefits everyone.

I’ve been an educator for 27 years and have yet to see this trickle down in practice. Most school districts oil the squeak wheels and both parties move on while kids in the middle and at the bottom continue to be ignored.

Kids at the bottom in MCPS being ignored? Not at all. In my experience they get 90% of the resoruces.

Kids at the bottom who have family resources behind them (to get the necessary 504s/IEPs) get a lot of reaources. Kids in low-SES areas get a few extra reaources, but not enough to get to parity in educational opportunity. All kids are shorted by the combination of system inefficiency, whether from poor management, graft or politics, and decades-long County underfunding versus needs: population growth, aging infrastrucure/techinal debt, advancing standards/expectations, increased salary requirements to attract/retain qualified teachers (not to memtion really good ones), etc.

The Council needs to stop undercutting (e.g., developer exemptions from impact taxes) and make school funding a higher priority than they have been allowing, notwithstanding the large amount spent -- that's a red herring serving only the well-to-do. It's as if they have been progressive in name only all this time. Nothing has as much potential to reduce societal disparities. Harkening back a few decades in pop culture:

"...education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet."

Really a shame, though not surprising, that the County Council remains so very in the pockets of developer-related interests.