The legislature may end up reverting the makeup days...

[Anonymous]

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Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Does CO have the majority of students not at grade level?

Suburban school district outside Denver does 180 days. I attended. It would be comparable to MCPS.

Well they don't have to worry about makeup days (the topic of this thread) unless they lost at least 21 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Shorter summer is the way to go..along with a longer winter break.

+1 and longer spring breaks. I think a lot of the European countries do it this way.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

That's not the only alternative. We could go back to scheduling 184 school days. And we could actually use the make up days we identify.

Of course we *could* go back to scheduling 184 days of school. Massachussets schedules 185 to make sure its kids get 180. But what evidence do you see that MCPS wants to do that? All I see is MCPS being happy to have 5 extra paid vacation days this year to give kids 175 days of instruction (and so many of them are stupid half days/early releases.)

Everyone has grown to love the days off in the middle of the year, so we need to start a week earlier.

This. We need to start one week earlier

They are already doing that in 26-27 as the first day is two weeks before Labor Day when it has always been one week before Labor Day (or after Labor Day in some years).
NO towards starting another week earlier, I'd prefer they start the week of August 31 (teachers have to come in a week earlier), 2 weeks December-early January, 4 or 5 day weekend for President's Day, 1 week spring break after 3Q, 4 Day weekend late April (coincide with Easter if it is later), end before Juneteenth.

We started August 26th this school year, and start August 25th next school year. Just 1 day difference. It is because of where Labor Day falls.

This is not the first year that Labor Day is September 7, it is the first year ever to start earlier than the 1 week mark (last Monday in August). This is due to more holidays. https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/12-09_7386 (2009-10)
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2015-16_SchoolCalendar(1) (2015-16)
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/d-g/drewes/homepage/0332.20ct_2020-21_schoolyearcalendar_amended-10_6.pdf (2020-21)
Those years had school the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas which is very undesirable. Almost everywhere south and west of Maryland has 2 weeks off in December into January and some even are off the full week of Thanksgiving (though they are only separated by 3 weeks).

[Anonymous]

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+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

Why Easter Monday and not Good Friday? Spring break should not always be the week before Easter.

I'd be glad for them to drop both, but just figured that asking to drop Easter Monday only would be less controversial.

[Anonymous]

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+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

Why Easter Monday and not Good Friday? Spring break should not always be the week before Easter.

I'd be glad for them to drop both, but just figured that asking to drop Easter Monday only would be less controversial.

This doesn't mean schools have to open on GF or EM it just eliminates the requirement that they have to be closed. Schools aren't required to be closed on Yom Kippur but they are closed because many students and teachers would be absent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

Why Easter Monday and not Good Friday? Spring break should not always be the week before Easter.

I'd be glad for them to drop both, but just figured that asking to drop Easter Monday only would be less controversial.

This doesn't mean schools have to open on GF or EM it just eliminates the requirement that they have to be closed. Schools aren't required to be closed on Yom Kippur but they are closed because many students and teachers would be absent.

Agree. I honestly don't think it should be the state's business at all which holidays school districts do or don't close for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

+1

This is such chaos. No one can make any plans. All because McPS was dumber than its surrounding counties and only put in 1 snow day rather than 3 and didn’t put in makeup days it was willing to use.

I agree starting a week earlier (FCPS does it) would make sense.

FCPS had a horrible calendar this year. Starting earlier should only happen for one reason: ending earlier
Starting earlier to end at the same time (to build in more snow days) is not the answer. Yes the transition day is useless, yes they could open April 15 with no complaints but besides that IT'S ABOUT TIME TO CHANGE MARYLAND LAW!

Disagree. We need to get back to 184 days in the school calendar. We always need at least 4, and often 5 or more given that we close so easily. If that means we have to start earlier, then so be it. We used to have fewer cultural & religious holidays off, but it seems clear that MCPS is not going to have school on those days, so we need to start earlier.

You don't even need to start earlier or drop holidays to get from 181 to 184. You could do it just by getting rid of the transition day, making the day before Thanksgiving a half-day again, and extending the school year from June 16th to the 17th.

(Also if thestate legislature really wanted to be helpful, they would take away the requirement that all schools must be closed on Easter Monday so we could have a 1 week spring break rather than a week plus a day. And maybe drop the President's Day closure requirement while they're at it.)

Why Easter Monday and not Good Friday? Spring break should not always be the week before Easter.

I'd be glad for them to drop both, but just figured that asking to drop Easter Monday only would be less controversial.

This doesn't mean schools have to open on GF or EM it just eliminates the requirement that they have to be closed. Schools aren't required to be closed on Yom Kippur but they are closed because many students and teachers would be absent.

Agree. I honestly don't think it should be the state's business at all which holidays school districts do or don't close for.

This is true. If the state wants those days traditionally off they can come up with a compromise that allows schools to open on either one of those days if school is canceled for 5 or more days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This. We need to start one week earlier
They are already doing that in 26-27 as the first day is two weeks before Labor Day when it has always been one week before Labor Day (or after Labor Day in some years).
NO towards starting another week earlier, I'd prefer they start the week of August 31 (teachers have to come in a week earlier), 2 weeks December-early January, 4 or 5 day weekend for President's Day, 1 week spring break after 3Q, 4 Day weekend late April (coincide with Easter if it is later), end before Juneteenth.

We started August 26th this school year, and start August 25th next school year. Just 1 day difference. It is because of where Labor Day falls. This is not the first year that Labor Day is September 7, it is the first year ever to start earlier than the 1 week mark (last Monday in August). This is due to more holidays. https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/12-09_7386 (2009-10)
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2015-16_SchoolCalendar(1) (2015-16)
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/d-g/drewes/homepage/0332.20ct_2020-21_schoolyearcalendar_amended-10_6.pdf (2020-21)
Those years had school the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas which is very undesirable. Almost everywhere south and west of Maryland has 2 weeks off in December into January and some even are off the full week of Thanksgiving (though they are only separated by 3 weeks).

The Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas just moves the number from 184 to 182 (the transition day further reduced that to 181). It's the addition of Diwali, Lunar New Year, and 2 Eid holidays that extended the year a week.
------------------------- The fair law solution due to additional holidays:
School starts as early as the last Monday in August to as late as week of Labor Day and ends BEFORE Juneteenth. Schools still have to schedule 1080 hours (ES/MS), 1170 hours (HS) but can lose up to 30 hours below the minimum before any makeup time is needed. The more hours scheduled above the minimum the less likely that makeup time is needed. If a single bad weather event results in schools being closed THREE (3) or more days, schools can go virtual starting on the 3rd closure day. If schools have been closed FIVE (5) or more days excluding any virtual days, schools can choose to be open on either Good Friday or Easter Monday as a makeup day (but not both). The mandated closure on election day every even year November can also be allowed to be a virtual school day.
-----------------------
How would that work for the current school year?
School was closed for 6 days so either Good Friday or Easter Monday would automatically be allowed to be a school day as a result of reaching the 5 closure threshold.
The first storm closed school for five days. Schools would have been allowed to go virtual for the last 3 days. If that happened there would only be 3 full closures instead of 6.
Schools aren't required to go virtual but it would be a choice which should be influenced by the community. The same goes with a Good Friday or Easter Monday makeup, if the community supports it. If the schools still have 1050 (ES/MS)/1140 (HS) or more hours after full closures, no makeups are required.
------------------------
How would next year's calendar be affected?
Schools would start no earlier than the week of August 31 for students (last Monday of August) and the ending would still be the same time before Juneteenth. The actual number of school days scheduled would be based on how various holidays fall, adequate break time and enough cushion to decrease the chance of more than 1 makeup day while thwarting an extended single storm closure with virtual days. Election day can be replaced with more time off around President's Day (midway between winter and spring breaks) or holding spring break away from Easter (when Easter isn't near the end of 3Q).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. We need to start one week earlier
They are already doing that in 26-27 as the first day is two weeks before Labor Day when it has always been one week before Labor Day (or after Labor Day in some years).
NO towards starting another week earlier, I'd prefer they start the week of August 31 (teachers have to come in a week earlier), 2 weeks December-early January, 4 or 5 day weekend for President's Day, 1 week spring break after 3Q, 4 Day weekend late April (coincide with Easter if it is later), end before Juneteenth.

We started August 26th this school year, and start August 25th next school year. Just 1 day difference. It is because of where Labor Day falls. This is not the first year that Labor Day is September 7, it is the first year ever to start earlier than the 1 week mark (last Monday in August). This is due to more holidays. https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/12-09_7386 (2009-10)
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2015-16_SchoolCalendar(1) (2015-16)
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/d-g/drewes/homepage/0332.20ct_2020-21_schoolyearcalendar_amended-10_6.pdf (2020-21)
Those years had school the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas which is very undesirable. Almost everywhere south and west of Maryland has 2 weeks off in December into January and some even are off the full week of Thanksgiving (though they are only separated by 3 weeks).

The Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas just moves the number from 184 to 182 (the transition day further reduced that to 181). It's the addition of Diwali, Lunar New Year, and 2 Eid holidays that extended the year a week.
------------------------- The fair law solution due to additional holidays:
School starts as early as the last Monday in August to as late as week of Labor Day and ends BEFORE Juneteenth. Schools still have to schedule 1080 hours (ES/MS), 1170 hours (HS) but can lose up to 30 hours below the minimum before any makeup time is needed. The more hours scheduled above the minimum the less likely that makeup time is needed. If a single bad weather event results in schools being closed THREE (3) or more days, schools can go virtual starting on the 3rd closure day. If schools have been closed FIVE (5) or more days excluding any virtual days, schools can choose to be open on either Good Friday or Easter Monday as a makeup day (but not both). The mandated closure on election day every even year November can also be allowed to be a virtual school day.
-----------------------
How would that work for the current school year?
School was closed for 6 days so either Good Friday or Easter Monday would automatically be allowed to be a school day as a result of reaching the 5 closure threshold.
The first storm closed school for five days. Schools would have been allowed to go virtual for the last 3 days. If that happened there would only be 3 full closures instead of 6.
Schools aren't required to go virtual but it would be a choice which should be influenced by the community. The same goes with a Good Friday or Easter Monday makeup, if the community supports it. If the schools still have 1050 (ES/MS)/1140 (HS) or more hours after full closures, no makeups are required.
------------------------
How would next year's calendar be affected?
Schools would start no earlier than the week of August 31 for students (last Monday of August) and the ending would still be the same time before Juneteenth. The actual number of school days scheduled would be based on how various holidays fall, adequate break time and enough cushion to decrease the chance of more than 1 makeup day while thwarting an extended single storm closure with virtual days. Election day can be replaced with more time off around President's Day (midway between winter and spring breaks) or holding spring break away from Easter (when Easter isn't near the end of 3Q).

This is a solid solution. I'm sorry if I missed something. Did the poster come up with this, or is this solution being considered in the legislature?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.

Maryland needs to keep up with the times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This. We need to start one week earlier
They are already doing that in 26-27 as the first day is two weeks before Labor Day when it has always been one week before Labor Day (or after Labor Day in some years).
NO towards starting another week earlier, I'd prefer they start the week of August 31 (teachers have to come in a week earlier), 2 weeks December-early January, 4 or 5 day weekend for President's Day, 1 week spring break after 3Q, 4 Day weekend late April (coincide with Easter if it is later), end before Juneteenth.

We started August 26th this school year, and start August 25th next school year. Just 1 day difference. It is because of where Labor Day falls. This is not the first year that Labor Day is September 7, it is the first year ever to start earlier than the 1 week mark (last Monday in August). This is due to more holidays. https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/12-09_7386 (2009-10)
https://teacherquality.nctq.org/dmsView/Montgomery_2015-16_SchoolCalendar(1) (2015-16)
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/d-g/drewes/homepage/0332.20ct_2020-21_schoolyearcalendar_amended-10_6.pdf (2020-21)
Those years had school the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas which is very undesirable. Almost everywhere south and west of Maryland has 2 weeks off in December into January and some even are off the full week of Thanksgiving (though they are only separated by 3 weeks).

The Wednesdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas just moves the number from 184 to 182 (the transition day further reduced that to 181). It's the addition of Diwali, Lunar New Year, and 2 Eid holidays that extended the year a week.
------------------------- The fair law solution due to additional holidays:
School starts as early as the last Monday in August to as late as week of Labor Day and ends BEFORE Juneteenth. Schools still have to schedule 1080 hours (ES/MS), 1170 hours (HS) but can lose up to 30 hours below the minimum before any makeup time is needed. The more hours scheduled above the minimum the less likely that makeup time is needed. If a single bad weather event results in schools being closed THREE (3) or more days, schools can go virtual starting on the 3rd closure day. If schools have been closed FIVE (5) or more days excluding any virtual days, schools can choose to be open on either Good Friday or Easter Monday as a makeup day (but not both). The mandated closure on election day every even year November can also be allowed to be a virtual school day.
-----------------------
How would that work for the current school year?
School was closed for 6 days so either Good Friday or Easter Monday would automatically be allowed to be a school day as a result of reaching the 5 closure threshold.
The first storm closed school for five days. Schools would have been allowed to go virtual for the last 3 days. If that happened there would only be 3 full closures instead of 6.
Schools aren't required to go virtual but it would be a choice which should be influenced by the community. The same goes with a Good Friday or Easter Monday makeup, if the community supports it. If the schools still have 1050 (ES/MS)/1140 (HS) or more hours after full closures, no makeups are required.
------------------------
How would next year's calendar be affected?
Schools would start no earlier than the week of August 31 for students (last Monday of August) and the ending would still be the same time before Juneteenth. The actual number of school days scheduled would be based on how various holidays fall, adequate break time and enough cushion to decrease the chance of more than 1 makeup day while thwarting an extended single storm closure with virtual days. Election day can be replaced with more time off around President's Day (midway between winter and spring breaks) or holding spring break away from Easter (when Easter isn't near the end of 3Q).

This is a solid solution. I'm sorry if I missed something. Did the poster come up with this, or is this solution being considered in the legislature?

Heck no! School should not start any earlier!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.

Maryland needs to keep up with the times.

Yeah, math and reading proficiency hasn't dropped enough in MD, let's help it along

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.

Maryland needs to keep up with the times.

Yeah, math and reading proficiency hasn't dropped enough in MD, let's help it along

It has everywhere. It’s a parenting problem, not a public education problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does MCPS not realize that nearly half their kids can’t read well and 2/3 aren’t proficient in grade level math? But sure, let’s reward MCPS staff with 5 extra vacation snow days for not putting more than 1 snow day in the calendar and refusing to use the 3 makeup days in the calendar.

On Tuesday, August 27, MCPS received test scores from the 2024 Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP), which tests students’ math, reading and science skills, that show encouraging signs of growth and recovery and points to the fact that this trend may be starting to buck.

According to the recently-released MCAP testing data, the assessment saw around 55.3% of MCPS students achieve a rating of “proficient” in English Language Arts and 33.4% in mathematics. This marks a slight increase from the 54.4% and 32.8% of MCPS students who achieved the same rating of “proficient” in 2023 on the English Language Arts and mathematics tests, respectively. The county aims for constant improvement in academic performance, including a steeper increase in test scores. “We just need to accelerate [improvements], so we see a faster pace of growth,” MCPS Board of Education president Karla Silvestre said in an interview with Moco 360.

This has nothing to do with rewarding staff and they are two seperate issues. Its ironic people are saying virtual isn't effective, for a few days, when you look at these scores and how they've declined over the last 15 or so years. MCPS and the BOE need to be held accountable. The county council needs to stop heavily funding a failing school system.

They’re not separate issues in that the end outcome this year (and last year) is that MCPS staff gets more vacation/snow days instead of providing instructional time, and educational outcomes are abysmal.

I would be fine with virtual learning for snow emergencies, but I’m just a parent. If McPS refuses to submit the virtual learning plan for weather to the state of Maryland the way other Maryland districts and the BoE won’t hold them accountable for what they promised to do in 2024-not sure what will help ensure that our students don’t get shortchanged instructional time and continue to fall further behind.

The only bright side to this legislation is that it greatly reduces the chance that MCPS would try to adopt virtual days.

You sound dim. I would much rather my child have virtual days of education rather than the current status quo of losing 5 school days this year.

I'm not happy about losing 5 days either, but virtual days are worse than nothing.

Show us the evidence that virtual learning has worse outcomes than providing no instruction at all. Because all you have is an opinion, and not a particularly informed one at that.

+1 This just sounds like MCPS staff who would rather just pocket their 5 extra snow days of vacation than ever be asked to teach during a day with inclement weather.

I'm sure they don't mind, but that's not the driving factor. The parents of high schoolers here are forgetting that younger kids exist. There's no good way to do virtual at the elementary level. Yes, some districts do it anyway, but most don't.

The parents of high schoolers here had elementary schoolers during covid so we actually know what we are talking about, unlike parents of kindergartners who had babies at the time. Virtual isn’t ideal for K and 1st, but for 2-5 it is totally possible to deliver instruction.

Interesting how you put it. Yes, from covid we know it is possible to "deliver instruction." But is it effective for most students? Certainly not.

I think it’s pretty effective for most students, actually. I think people object because it can be inconvenient for parents of young kids who are trying to simultaneously work and they don’t want to be inconvenienced, and it’s not great for an entire year, which is not what we are discussing. For what we are trying to accomplish (keep kids learning, keep on pace with covering material), it is a good if imperfect tool and solution to the problem of extended weather closures. I’m exhausted with people letting perfect be the enemy of the good.

It isn't "good" nor does it facilitate keeping "pace with covering material." Elementary school classes wouldn't be able to cover new material. Far too many kids wouldn't be there. And of those who are, many wouldn't be able to learn effectively.

Presumably your in-person instruction didn’t do you much good, because you can’t distinguish between your own opinion and a fact.

My kid actually did learn the difference between opinion and fact during virtual learning 1st grade during the COVID years.

The fact is that your kid was an exceptional case. We know there was tremendous learning loss during covid.

DP. No see, the actual drop in testing scores is opinion but that posters one kid's experience is fact.

You’re comparing the effectiveness of virtual school to in-person school, when the correct comparison in this situation is comparing virtual school to having no instruction at all. Where is your evidence that virtual school is worse than no school at all?

This year, MCPS chose to shortchange its kids 5 days of instructional time, so they won’t get 180 days like students around America. I personally would have preferred that my kids had virtual learning during those snow days-just like kids in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Alexandria, Boston and New York City.

Instead our kids get 175 days of education-now that is a factor that contributes to learning loss.

Colorado has 160 days. The kids will be just fine.

Schools in Colorado don't opt for the bare minimum that is legally mandated, unlike MCPS.

Well it's a lot easier to cover the minimum there so why would that be a surprise. 180 days is tough with more holidays and worse with makeup day requirements.

31 states have a 180-day school year requirement.

Ah and this is where people are fooled. While 31 states says "180 days" most of them are more flexible; some like Virginia allow an hours substitute, some like New York allow a few PD days to count and some like California require 180 scheduled calendar school days but forgive all emergency closures. In NY schools can now go virtual to avoid makeup days. Maryland doesn't have any of those flexibilities.

Maryland needs to keep up with the times.

Yeah, math and reading proficiency hasn't dropped enough in MD, let's help it along

It has everywhere. It’s a parenting problem, not a public education problem.

May also be a pushing too much too soon on Kindergarten problem so they aren't actually receiving a strong foundation in learning skills as opposed to learning content (which they are also not getting a strong foundation in since many are not ready developmentally for that).

It may also be a testing and curriculum problem -- MCPS keeps changing curriculum without giving teachers a chance to become proficient at delivering it.