Teacher exposes the craptastic decline iof MCPS in Reddit rant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

There it is folks; the MCPS forum is full with right-wingers crying the sky is falling.

It's really old and seriously detracts from this forums usefulness.

If by “usefulness” you mean “liberal echo chamber” then I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That was a pretty enlightening Reddit thread. If a student is not self-motivated and high-performing, they are completely failed by MCPS schools today. It's a race to the bottom for average kids. And it's entirely caused by central office bureaucrats. Monica McKnight cannot leave soon enough.

So in summary, to increase graduation rates, MCPS stopped requiring kids actually go to class and stopped teachers from giving zeros for not doing any assignments. That caused a drop in attendance rates, so they redefined absences as just very tardy. The result is that kids without parental oversight are hanging out in the hallways and graduating with no skills, knowledge, or self-discipline. However, the graduation and attendance rates are meeting metrics.

Lol, you all need to name schools for me to believe this. And even more, you need to name schools because all that was done in the name of equity, but if true, it's actually hurting the kids who need equity.

What will naming schools actually accomplish for you? I know there is the 50% rule at Blair and Eastern. Does that make it real for you now?

They got rid of the 50% rule.

That’s interesting because if I log on Parent Vue right now, and there is an assignment that is not graded for my kids (Blair), the default score is 50%. In every class.

My kid missed a few days for illness and got 0% on two assignments even though he met with teachers and checked in on myMCPS. Will need to check the district policy.

it is not a required policy. My student has teachers who in their syllabus state how much they take off for late assignments, when they’re accepted, and that at deadline it becomes a 0. They’ve had no problem enforcing. If this is not happening it’s a likely a principal issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

https://moco360.media/2022/11/01/in-school-board-race-former-mcps-teacher-and-incumbent-face-off-for-district-5-seat/

I don’t know this woman at all and don’t really know if she would have been good but in general I think the Board and central office need to spend a lot more time listening to experienced teachers’ views on what works and what doesn’t. In my opinion, they are really the only ones who know what they are talking about and most of them really have the best of intentions.

Having the best intentions does necessarily mean knowing what’s best. There are PLENTY of teachers in MCPS right now who would say they have the best intentions and want to help students but yet at the same time aren’t really familiar with the standards to which they are supposed to be teaching. And I found that out from teachers themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

There it is folks; the MCPS forum is full with right-wingers crying the sky is falling.

It's really old and seriously detracts from this forums usefulness.

If by “usefulness” you mean “liberal echo chamber” then I agree.

No, not at all. The problem is it's one to two posters spewing the same far-right propaganda day after day which makes it hard to discuss meaningful topics involving school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

There it is folks; the MCPS forum is full with right-wingers crying the sky is falling.

It's really old and seriously detracts from this forums usefulness.

If by “usefulness” you mean “liberal echo chamber” then I agree.

No, not at all. The problem is it's one to two posters spewing the same far-right propaganda day after day which makes it hard to discuss meaningful topics involving school.

What right wing propaganda are you talking about? Being specific would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

I think you're mixing things up in your last paragraph.....

1) $900k won't get you anything to brag about in many W feeder areas. You can buy and find many $900k homes in the DCC area. You can definitely get a LARGER sized home for that $900k in the DCC zones compared to the Ws, but expensive housing is expensive throughout MoCo, with those prices decreasing on the fringes of the county. To get "cheap" housing, you really have to move outside of MoCo these days, which is why Frederick is booming.

2) You're talking about a group of wealthy parents who henpeck and screech if their child gets a B on an assignment and demands that their child be given a reassessment or insists the teacher wasn't fair or uses some other excuse to push for their kid to either get a higher grade or have a chance to boost their. To be sure, those parents are ANNOYING. But the shift in the grading was NOT because of this group of parents.

3) There's ANOTHER group of parents who usually are on the lower income side, who feel that every failure of their child's is the fault of the school. They don't look at their own chaotic home environment, nor do they possess an ounce of discipline and organization themselves, but they insist their child is doing poorly because the school system is wrong. Either the teacher is racist and that's why their kid is skipping class, or the teacher went too fast and didn't explain enough for the kid or they believe it's the teacher's job at the high school level to constantly remind their child to turn in assignments. These parents usually either push back whenever the school calls to intervene and always defends their child no matter how wrong the behavior. "Oh, I don't know what the issue is. He's a GOOD boy at home here. It must something y'all doing."

These parents, whose children continuously fail classes and fail to graduate, are the ones for whom the 50% rule on missing assignments and the 90/10 split of all tasks and practice prep were implemented for. It was done to lower the bar to make it easier to graduate. Because these parents don't actually care if their kids do WELL in school or class. But they do care if they get told their child cannot graduate high school. So this appeases them and makes them happy, and also helps the system look more "successful" since graduation rates go up when you lower the bar.

I love how you believe group#2 has bad behavior but group #1 is merely annoying. Group#1 cares if they’re student graduates, but also think their kid can do no wrong and is entitled to A’s. Group #1 sues for anything and everything which is what causes unnecessary attention and then makes folks afraid to enforce anything. “Oh, I don't know what the issue is. He's a GOOD boy at home here. It must something y'all doing,” comes from Group 1 as folks in your perceived Group 2 don’t even answer the phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

Because banning books and not teaching accurate history is standing on stable ground???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

Because banning books and not teaching accurate history is standing on stable ground???

I’ll take book over the equity bs any damn day of the week. And not teaching accurate history is questionable at best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher in another county and find this teacher incompetent. This teacher must be old and not able to keep up with the times. It’s ok, it happens. We never could force students back to class. You make it hurt the kids through a grade. Assign a warm up every day and an exit ticket at the end. It will bring their grade down. The teacher said one big assignment could bring their grade up? Every assignment should have the same weight. Not one standard or lesson is bigger than another… fifty percent grade on attempt is still an E. Document communication on an app that shows “read” status even if they don’t respond, like ClassDojo. It’s so easy to complain and be a part of the problem than to be a part of the solution. No, this will not work for everyone but nothing ever does.

People point out that a 50% is still an E, and that's true. But there's value information in the degree of E in terms of where the student is with regard to mastery and knowledge.

A kid who gets a 20% on an assessment is WAY farther off from being on track compared to a kid who gets a 50-58%. By FLATTENING all E's to just 50%, you're masking the kids who are REALLY struggling and lumping their performance in with kids who just might be struggling with time management. You're actually taking away vital information for the student and the educator.

This might be vital information if 2% of our 160k+ students were getting an E, buts that’s not the case. Further if the grade is E because the student lacks the time management/detailed focus to turn in assignments on time but are knocking exams out the park, that’s fairly obvious in the grading. At this point if a kid is getting an E, it just deserves attention regardless if it’s 50% or 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This. This has been the basis of staff training and ‘professional development’ in MCPS recently.

OMG. I am not in the school system but have done anti-racist training and the parts about "white supremacist culture" are so ridiculous. It almost makes me wonder if a right-wing operative designed those pieces secretly as kind of a poison pill to undermine anti-racist efforts. But the anti-racist trainers kind of deserve it because they present it as something that can't be questioned or you'll be called a racist.

These are all good ideas, although I think they would be better received if they were not characterized as aspects of "white supremacy" and instead discussed as ways that the current social structure advantages some people over others. For example, strict enforcement of punctuality in the workplace will favor individuals with reliable cars over those who must rely on public transportation like buses to get to work. The same is true for the original discussions about school discipline. We all have personal biases about what is the best way to behave. I find a noisy environment to be very stressful, so I can see how at times, my perception of certain behaviors that I find too loud or too confrontational might lead to inappropriate judgment of others.

Still, as a society and within communities, including school buildings, we must have some standards to create order and stability. This is particularly important for children. Personally, I think that we are in a mess because there is a lack of stability and clear expectations at every level and between stakeholders as well, and some of that stems from well-intentioned social justice ideals. My younger kids' experience in public school (not MCPSS, but a neighboring district) was one of complete chaos during the elementary school years when it seemed that options for disciplining extremely disruptive students had vanished. A small group of highly disruptive students, students switching classes to avoid them (and physical harm), significant teacher absences without stable substitute coverage (partly due to the chaos), and poor communication between administration and parents all undermined educational outcomes - for everyone. Students should not be disciplined based on unfair standards that disregard cultural differences; however, there has to be a limit to what is tolerated (assault, threats of physical harm, swearing at teachers and other students) and an ability to address what we all should consider unacceptable behavior. If kids get moved from grade to grade without attending school regularly or making a good-faith effort to do their work, there is less motivation for all students to hold themselves to high standards. Can we reconcile telling students that a fight at school or an assault of a teacher isn't a problem if the students are from marginalized groups, but also, it's really, really, really important that you show up for class on time and study for your exams?

Schools' ability to return to higher standards is compromised because students aren't ready for it, and part of that is due to the pandemic. Every time I hear someone say, "But this was happening before the pandemic," I fume. If standards were falling off before the pandemic and student behavior was deteriorating (and it was), there should have been even more urgency to avoid further dropoff instead of writing off the COVID years and then blaming kids and their parents for reentry difficulties.

This is all true. It is also true that this was falling off before the pandemic. The pandemic did made it exponentially worse because some things were not caught early, students that normally would just have been annoying are now horrible (and Yes this is because of parents), and those who would have been horrible to begin with are now even worse. What’s infuriating for teachers/admin and school districts is that they have been harping about how things were falling off for a decade and no one was really listening until pandemic.

Same as how MCPS has been talking about this ESSR cliff and yet folks acted surprised when they starting scaling back tutoring and summer school.

[Anonymous]

These posters obsessed with the 50% rule are misguided. There are dozens of far greater issues facing our schools including a lack of emphasise on academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These posters obsessed with the 50% rule are misguided. There are dozens of far greater issues facing our schools including a lack of emphasise on academics.

I think the people complaining about the 50% rule view that as interlinked with the lack of emphasis on academics......because how can you have a focus on academic excellence when a kid can get 50% for doing nothing? Those two things aren't compatible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

There it is folks; the MCPS forum is full with right-wingers crying the sky is falling.

It seems like a handful of paid trolls who push the same old stuff week after week.

I love how an opinion that doesn’t align with yours must be one of a paid troll.
I assure you I am neither. Just someone who thinks differently than you do.

To be fair to PP, when all the opinions they hear at the Takoma Park Co-OP align exactly with theirs, what are they supposed to think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are only 2-6 good high schools in MoCo and people pay a lot to live there.

The other people buy cheap houses zoned for bad schools

If you believe that the only good schools are ones in neighborhoods with over-priced real estate, what do you think we as a society owe to people who truly cannot afford to live in those neighborhoods?

Surely, you also believe that an adequate education is a human right and the key to breaking cycles of generational poverty. Are you okay with real estate prices being the tool that creates a permanent underclass?

The slide began with eliminating finals, but that policy was a symptom of decline, not the cause. What we are calling pandemic learning loss was like a heart attack after the patient had a Krispy Kreme donut following a decade of daily Big Macs.

It is time for a true overhaul. But one that must include parental accountability as well. And buying a $900k house zoned to a W feeder doesn’t discharge your responsibility. Affluent parents need to advocate for a grading policy that supports rather than diminishes students learning time management and accountability skills. Affluent parents need to have constructive conversations with their children about the feedback teachers provide and not just react to low grades with angry emails and vitriolic DCUM posts. Your child didn’t get an A on homework because they really understand the concept. They got an A because that category only allows 100%, 90% (if late), and 50% (if never submitted). The C they got on classwork shows their true achievement.

Wait, they don't take final exams in MCPS?

Absolutely pathetic. What are these kids going to do when they get to college? Fail so much our colleges will have to water down curricula?

This is insane. Where's the education in MCPS and why do they keep raising my taxes?

Finals, college, and success are aspects of whiteness. As an anti-racism school system, MCPS must eschew these things and work toward equity.

This right here. This is why I vote Republican whenever I can, even though it’s a wasted vote in MoCo. The liberals have gone off the deep end with this bs.

There it is folks; the MCPS forum is full with right-wingers crying the sky is falling.

It seems like a handful of paid trolls who push the same old stuff week after week.

I love how an opinion that doesn’t align with yours must be one of a paid troll.
I assure you I am neither. Just someone who thinks differently than you do.

To be fair to PP, when all the opinions they hear at the Takoma Park Co-OP align exactly with theirs, what are they supposed to think?

Excellent point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posters obsessed with the 50% rule are misguided. There are dozens of far greater issues facing our schools including a lack of emphasise on academics.

I think the people complaining about the 50% rule view that as interlinked with the lack of emphasis on academics......because how can you have a focus on academic excellence when a kid can get 50% for doing nothing? Those two things aren't compatible.

We've talked this to death, but the 50% rule is only through the end of the quarter. If the child actually does nothing by the end of quarter, they take the 0. It's meant to give kids enough room to scramble back up if they try hard enough. We want that, considering we're talking about brains that are a decade from being fully developed.