Did you waste your money buying a house to get access to MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

MCPS changed the report card. Maybe you didn't notice?

Not for the first five years of quarterly c2.0 “report card” complaints! That’s a recent re-development

NP here, but why complain or attempt to make a point about something that's no longer valid?

I suspected PP's dcum material has just gone stale, but if the wishy-washy grading system contributed to parents not noticing the slip in performance, there's a point. Regardless, MCPS had the data to catch this problem sooner--chose to assume it would improve once 2.0 native students could be compared and chose to brush off naysayers.

[Anonymous]

Re:c2.0 report card years 2012-2017.
My takeaway was MCPS knows it had a problem. Gets a ton of complaints, doesn’t bring in a third party fast enough. Kids basically got pass/fail in ES and never learned to try hard, just so the minimum. Years later they change it back like nothing ever happened.

Now the same pattern but w the whole damn math and English curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Some MCPS firings are essential. Especially in the central office, eric lange etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS firings are essential. Especially in the central office, eric lange etc.

Agreed. We need to lobby the Superintendent to fire him, along with the rest of the curriculum committee. There's no way he should be responsible for the new curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

You can tell if a kid is having difficulty, but if a kid is getting As or Ps in a system where an A or a P doesn't mean he/she is learning foundational skills sufficiently (something the audit said was the case in MCPS), then there isn't much a parent can do to figure out what the kid *should* be doing. You can try to piece together textbooks and things like that, but without being an educational professional, you're sort of shooting in the dark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

On track means, by graduation, eligible for community college without deficiencies. Since there are people aiming higher than that, the grading scale should at least be able to convey the next level without rigamarole. Yes, any grading system can be mis-used but at least there's an expected meaning to A, B, C and it should be an easy discussion to find out whether you and the teacher are on the same page. With the artificial grading system, teachers would just repeat the talking point and look uncomfortable. Sure everyone should assess their kid's progress, too, but a report card is a reality check on whether the parent and teacher are seeing the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

Exactly, SMDH!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

While I agree a system should work, if you claim you cannot figure out if your kid is behind them you are the problem too.
DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

You can tell if a kid is having difficulty, but if a kid is getting As or Ps in a system where an A or a P doesn't mean he/she is learning foundational skills sufficiently (something the audit said was the case in MCPS), then there isn't much a parent can do to figure out what the kid *should* be doing. You can try to piece together textbooks and things like that, but without being an educational professional, you're sort of shooting in the dark.

[Anonymous]

To answer OP's question in the title of the thread, no, I didn't waste my money buying a house in MoCo. We spent within our budget for a house that met our needs and wants (500K), in a neighborhood we love and we're happy with the school our kids attend. I don't buy into the idea that you have to spend $$$$ for a W pyramid school. The people who buy into that notion are the ones who stand to be the most disappointed because they often overextend themselves on their house and expect perfection for that privilege and then somehow it's somebody else's fault.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

You can tell if a kid is having difficulty, but if a kid is getting As or Ps in a system where an A or a P doesn't mean he/she is learning foundational skills sufficiently (something the audit said was the case in MCPS), then there isn't much a parent can do to figure out what the kid *should* be doing. You can try to piece together textbooks and things like that, but without being an educational professional, you're sort of shooting in the dark.

And what foundational skill would you not be aware that your DC is missing simply because your DC got a P? Maybe this is your school issue, because at our school, we get monthly newsletters from teachers that detail what the students are learning, and what they are expected to know.

If by foundational skills you mean grammar and spelling, then you should also be able to tell whether your child has such skills by looking at their writing take home work. Read what they wrote, and you can see all the grammar and spelling mistakes. Same for math.

My 4th grader DC doesn't get straight As. As a matter of fact, I just had to review my DC's writing work and sign a piece of paper indicating that I reviewed them. This is a weekly thing that the teachers require. DC got a couple of Cs, and we reviewed what DC did wrong. There were notes on the paper by the teacher of what DC was missing and needed to work on. I'm going to try to work on these issues at home with DC. The issue DC is having has nothing to do with lack of "foundational skills" but everything to do with the fact that DC doesn't read the instructions or the text carefully and provide enough detail in the writing - an issue that I'm pretty sure a lot of ES children have. Sure, DC has some grammatical and spelling errors, but that IMO, is no where near as important as making sure DC reads the instructions and the text, and answers the questions with detail, ie, critical reading and writing skills.

I'm not defending 2.0 or the ES/P grading system -- I wasn't a fan, either. But to say that you are not aware of what skills your children are missing simply because of the P doesn't mean much because that would be the same case if your DC got a B instead of a P.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid got all Ps.
They are proficient, as defined by MCPS.
We're good to go.

For five years my kid got all ps too.
Does this mean anything at all? No, it was meaningless then and it is meaningless now.

What is does mean is that MCPS failed my kids. I have no idea how they were doing. They have no goals when they do their little exercises in class. Frankly the biggest carrot is to hurry through the exercises so they can double login and play in the Chromebook.

You really have no idea how your kids are doing? You have no way to evaluate beyond looking at the P? Take out a paper from last year..look at the handwriting and spelling...look at the math complexity. See what reading level they are on..

You know there are people trained to determine the extent to which kids are adhering to educational standards, right? Without being an expert in educational attainment, you can't just take an English or math assignment out and say, "ok, yeah, Johnny's on track!"

DP.. but a P means Johnny is on track. If he's getting all Ps, then you know he was on track per the standards. So now they get an A, B or C. If your DC gets a B, what does that tell you? That your DC is "on track". I do like the A,B,Cs better though because it does provide a bit more details just how "on track" the student is. Our school gave us a handout on what the new letter grades mean during open house.

But even with a P, if you review your DC's take home work, you can kind of tell where the child is having difficulty.

You can tell if a kid is having difficulty, but if a kid is getting As or Ps in a system where an A or a P doesn't mean he/she is learning foundational skills sufficiently (something the audit said was the case in MCPS), then there isn't much a parent can do to figure out what the kid *should* be doing. You can try to piece together textbooks and things like that, but without being an educational professional, you're sort of shooting in the dark.

And what foundational skill would you not be aware that your DC is missing simply because your DC got a P? Maybe this is your school issue, because at our school, we get monthly newsletters from teachers that detail what the students are learning, and what they are expected to know.

If by foundational skills you mean grammar and spelling, then you should also be able to tell whether your child has such skills by looking at their writing take home work. Read what they wrote, and you can see all the grammar and spelling mistakes. Same for math.

My 4th grader DC doesn't get straight As. As a matter of fact, I just had to review my DC's writing work and sign a piece of paper indicating that I reviewed them. This is a weekly thing that the teachers require. DC got a couple of Cs, and we reviewed what DC did wrong. There were notes on the paper by the teacher of what DC was missing and needed to work on. I'm going to try to work on these issues at home with DC. The issue DC is having has nothing to do with lack of "foundational skills" but everything to do with the fact that DC doesn't read the instructions or the text carefully and provide enough detail in the writing - an issue that I'm pretty sure a lot of ES children have. Sure, DC has some grammatical and spelling errors, but that IMO, is no where near as important as making sure DC reads the instructions and the text, and answers the questions with detail, ie, critical reading and writing skills.

I'm not defending 2.0 or the ES/P grading system -- I wasn't a fan, either. But to say that you are not aware of what skills your children are missing simply because of the P doesn't mean much because that would be the same case if your DC got a B instead of a P.

Yes indeed. Yes indeed