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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

Sure, but this particular thread was about the "P". I'm not arguing about whether the curriculum provided the necessary foundational skills. I'm stating that as a parent, you can know what your child is doing by looking at their work, so you know that *based on what they are working on* whether the P means that they are proficient on that worksheet or not.

The point is even if we hadn't had the ES/P grading and instead had the A,B,C from the start, you wouldn't be able to tell whether your child met the curriculum expectation and have those foundational skills mentioned in the audit. The B in 2.0 curriculum wouldn't have given you any more or less information on where your child is at in relation to the standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is (or at least was) a common assertion on this forum. I still don't know where people got this idea from.

Also, I'm tickled by the idea that the ES/P etc. system was "artificial" -- does that mean that A/B/C is a natural grading system? Any grading system is artificial, it seems to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is (or at least was) a common assertion on this forum. I still don't know where people got this idea from.

Also, I'm tickled by the idea that the ES/P etc. system was "artificial" -- does that mean that A/B/C is a natural grading system? Any grading system is artificial, it seems to me.

Not a DCUM notion, the CCSS were in part designed to eliminate the HS diploma holders who need remediation in college. "Career and College Ready" means being prepared for some college (some careers), certainly not any college.

And, yes, all grades are artificial, but changing the terminology is an extra layer of artifice which lead to things like back-to-school night where all the parents got was a wave and a video on the new grading system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

OMG! I know if my child can read , if my child can add. Are some random standards your only way of telling if your child is learning S****?
I don't live my life by standardized tests, they are but one bit of info that you use with an ENTIRE HOST of other things, like knowing if your child can read. Giving them extra things to read , doing workbooks, listening to them talk , are they putting together abstract concepts, can you get a general idea of how they are processing information , etc.
Gurrrl, if all you rely on is what other people tell you then you are a prime example of why this country is in the middle of a s**** show.
I feel sorry for your kids regardless if the curriculum .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

Sure, but this particular thread was about the "P". I'm not arguing about whether the curriculum provided the necessary foundational skills. I'm stating that as a parent, you can know what your child is doing by looking at their work, so you know that *based on what they are working on* whether the P means that they are proficient on that worksheet or not.

The point is even if we hadn't had the ES/P grading and instead had the A,B,C from the start, you wouldn't be able to tell whether your child met the curriculum expectation and have those foundational skills mentioned in the audit. The B in 2.0 curriculum wouldn't have given you any more or less information on where your child is at in relation to the standards.

She does not understand that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

OMG! I know if my child can read , if my child can add. Are some random standards your only way of telling if your child is learning S****?
I don't live my life by standardized tests, they are but one bit of info that you use with an ENTIRE HOST of other things, like knowing if your child can read. Giving them extra things to read , doing workbooks, listening to them talk , are they putting together abstract concepts, can you get a general idea of how they are processing information , etc.
Gurrrl, if all you rely on is what other people tell you then you are a prime example of why this country is in the middle of a s**** show.
I feel sorry for your kids regardless if the curriculum .

So really, you're arguing against having educational standards. It's not just about saying "oh, well, my kid can read. Great, I'm sure he'll be fine." You need some detail and nuance in terms of expectations; otherwise, any "supplementing" you're doing is shooting in the dark.

[Anonymous]

Also, my kid will be fine because I take into account what experts tell me. You, on the other hand, ignore them.

[Anonymous]

The point is even if we hadn't had the ES/P grading and instead had the A,B,C from the start, you wouldn't be able to tell whether your child met the curriculum expectation and have those foundational skills mentioned in the audit. The B in 2.0 curriculum wouldn't have given you any more or less information on where your child is at in relation to the standards.

I'm not the PP you are responding to and I agree with you but don't you find this even more terrifying?

The audit showed that the curriculum itself was lacking in covering foundational skills, had large gaps and was riddled with errors. If 2.0 had been graded with more detail , you would have known whether your child was getting 100% of it correct versus say 70% of of it correct. However, even 100% of something that is missing something, had large errors, or is generally below standards is still a problem.

The "P" grading system compounded this though because some kids were just coasting along getting "Ps" for 70% of the spotty curriculum. These kids have even more deficiencies. Smart kids learn to game the system and get bored so I'd expect that a lot of these kids with deficiencies are the ones of the DCUM audience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

OMG! I know if my child can read , if my child can add. Are some random standards your only way of telling if your child is learning S****?
I don't live my life by standardized tests, they are but one bit of info that you use with an ENTIRE HOST of other things, like knowing if your child can read. Giving them extra things to read , doing workbooks, listening to them talk , are they putting together abstract concepts, can you get a general idea of how they are processing information , etc.
Gurrrl, if all you rely on is what other people tell you then you are a prime example of why this country is in the middle of a s**** show.
I feel sorry for your kids regardless if the curriculum .

So really, you're arguing against having educational standards. It's not just about saying "oh, well, my kid can read. Great, I'm sure he'll be fine." You need some detail and nuance in terms of expectations; otherwise, any "supplementing" you're doing is shooting in the dark.

Where did I say not to have standards?
I said I don't live my life by standardized tests.
Reading comprehension is not your strong suit! I said that is ONE BIT of information, one bit of information that you use along with others.
Please re-read what I wrote .
Also, you are talking out of both sides of your face, you're saying the experts are wrong, not doing the right thing but now you're saying you need to have expert input .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

+1

[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: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

Did you read the audit? 2.0 didn't align with State Standards, so even if your kid got a P, it doesn't mean he/she met state standards for foundational skills.

OMG! I know if my child can read , if my child can add. Are some random standards your only way of telling if your child is learning S****?
I don't live my life by standardized tests, they are but one bit of info that you use with an ENTIRE HOST of other things, like knowing if your child can read. Giving them extra things to read , doing workbooks, listening to them talk , are they putting together abstract concepts, can you get a general idea of how they are processing information , etc.
Gurrrl, if all you rely on is what other people tell you then you are a prime example of why this country is in the middle of a s**** show.
I feel sorry for your kids regardless if the curriculum .

So really, you're arguing against having educational standards. It's not just about saying "oh, well, my kid can read. Great, I'm sure he'll be fine." You need some detail and nuance in terms of expectations; otherwise, any "supplementing" you're doing is shooting in the dark.

Where did I say not to have standards?
I said I don't live my life by standardized tests.
Reading comprehension is not your strong suit! I said that is ONE BIT of information, one bit of information that you use along with others.
Please re-read what I wrote .
Also, you are talking out of both sides of your face, you're saying the experts are wrong, not doing the right thing but now you're saying you need to have expert input .

Huh?

Experts = those who developed the Common Core State Standards, and those at Johns Hopkins who did the audit

[Anonymous]

Whether you are a MCPS apologist or fighter of 2.0, you lost money buying a house to get access to MCPS. The decline of MCPS is one of the biggest reasons why areas beyond very close in Bethesda haven't recovered from the 2009 crash, its one of the reasons why Silver Spring never became the hot market that you saw Arlington become over the past 10 years.

Montgomery County doesn't offer much beyond schools. Professional jobs are all in DC, Virginia and Howard county. The good in-state universities and colleges are in VA. The better taxes are in VA. The cool factor of living in major city is in DC (and no walking to Fuddruckers in Silver Spring is not cool - LOL). It doesn't have cute little towns like Frederick. Since NOVA is very liberal now, Montgomery County doesn't even have being a blue state area as a draw.

MoCo used to be the place to go for the schools. Now it is becoming where to go to get more for your money of you can afford private schools or where to go to save money if you don't care about the quality of your schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whether you are a MCPS apologist or fighter of 2.0, you lost money buying a house to get access to MCPS. The decline of MCPS is one of the biggest reasons why areas beyond very close in Bethesda haven't recovered from the 2009 crash, its one of the reasons why Silver Spring never became the hot market that you saw Arlington become over the past 10 years.

Montgomery County doesn't offer much beyond schools. Professional jobs are all in DC, Virginia and Howard county. The good in-state universities and colleges are in VA. The better taxes are in VA. The cool factor of living in major city is in DC (and no walking to Fuddruckers in Silver Spring is not cool - LOL). It doesn't have cute little towns like Frederick. Since NOVA is very liberal now, Montgomery County doesn't even have being a blue state area as a draw.

MoCo used to be the place to go for the schools. Now it is becoming where to go to get more for your money of you can afford private schools or where to go to save money if you don't care about the quality of your schools.

Frederick is in MoCo, you idiot. Also, Marriott and Hilton have their global HQs in MoCo. UMD is an excellent, and ever-rising university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether you are a MCPS apologist or fighter of 2.0, you lost money buying a house to get access to MCPS. The decline of MCPS is one of the biggest reasons why areas beyond very close in Bethesda haven't recovered from the 2009 crash, its one of the reasons why Silver Spring never became the hot market that you saw Arlington become over the past 10 years.

Montgomery County doesn't offer much beyond schools. Professional jobs are all in DC, Virginia and Howard county. The good in-state universities and colleges are in VA. The better taxes are in VA. The cool factor of living in major city is in DC (and no walking to Fuddruckers in Silver Spring is not cool - LOL). It doesn't have cute little towns like Frederick. Since NOVA is very liberal now, Montgomery County doesn't even have being a blue state area as a draw.

MoCo used to be the place to go for the schools. Now it is becoming where to go to get more for your money of you can afford private schools or where to go to save money if you don't care about the quality of your schools.

Frederick is in MoCo, you idiot. Also, Marriott and Hilton have their global HQs in MoCo. UMD is an excellent, and ever-rising university.

Frederick is in Frederick County..... And NIST, NIH and DOE all have offices in MoCo.