How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?
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Anonymous
Not quite. Generally, you are correct. But google the Cristo Rey model to learn how catholic schools do a terrific job educating the most disadvantaged minority students. Their approach is backed up by data. |
Anonymous
But you're making the same case. Cristo Rey's model works because it's not public school m |
Anonymous
| Cristo Rey is made up of motivated low income kids. We had a few kids from my Title 1 school go to one of their schools. They all dropped out. They weren’t used to the academic demands and the strict rules. |
Anonymous
At the expense of students deserving enrichment? |
Anonymous
Why do they deserve enrichment over other students who are struggling? |
Anonymous
Goodness. Welp! Which just goes to show that the biggest problem with public schools is that they can't push out unmotivated kids, regardless of their income levels, in the way that private schools can. |
Anonymous
But imagine if mcps introduced rigorous academics along with setting expectations and instilling personal responsibility from the get go? ^^^ That’s catholic school. Guess what? It works! |
Anonymous
It works because people sign up for it. That's the difference. Families go out of their way to seek out more through a private education. They agree to the terms of the contract and there are real consequences for actions (mandatory detention, suspensions, expulsions, etc). Yes, actual consequences and real standards will work for the kids whose parents care but you'll still have plenty of kids whose parents don't give a crap. I wish I could have parents sign a document that outlines their responsibilities and what happens if they don't fulfill them. They should be required to come to parent teacher conferences (or do it by phone/Zoom). They should be required to have meetings if their kids miss a certain number of school days not documented by doctor's notes. It can't be all on the schools. If they don't care, I shouldn't have to bend over backwards for them. |
Anonymous
IDK. One group tries and the other one don’t give F?? |
Anonymous
Thank you for being such an amazing case example in why teachers and admins need training in dealing with neurodiverse students. Any teacher who believes that a child just doesnt care about being successful, needs serious, comprehensive reeducating. -Did you know that kiddos with adhd and autism tend to have "flat affect " meaning they struggle to show how theyre feeling in their facial expressions. Their facial expressions come off as bored or angry, some even call this resting b#@& face. Its an entirely physiological condition that they can't control easily. When they do control it, or mask, it requires more mental and physical energy and leaves kids feeling more tired. - Did you know kids with ADHD are estimated to have recieved 20,000 more negative messages by AGE TEN than their peers? Obviously alot of this comes from teachers like yourself who have put exactly zero effort into understanding them, but it comes from peers and parents, too. Imagine how frustrated and burned out you would be if you recieved majority negative feedback. So many of these kids also process slowly so when a teacher gives them a nasty message like "you dont take your work seriously!" They are processing how to respond to this and may say nothing or learn to defend themselves with sharp quips or eye rolls or humor instead of being equipped to say, "but i do take my work seriously. Its just that i dont know how to ask the right questions and i need your help" -Did you know that word problems can be challenging for autistic students because they struggle with abstract language and ambiguity? Word problems often use figurative or indirect language that can be hard for autistic students to interpret. If the language is ambiguous, they may struggle to understand what the question is really asking. Theres also: Sensory Overload: Word problems often contain a lot of information, and students need to filter out what’s relevant. This can be overwhelming, particularly if they struggle with processing large amounts of information at once or feel stressed by the school environment. Executive Functioning: Many word problems require multiple steps to solve, and executive functioning challenges can make it difficult to organize these steps and solve them in the correct order. Literal Thinking: Autistic students may interpret language literally, so metaphors, idioms, or any implied meaning in word problems can cause confusion. Social Contexts: Some word problems include references to social situations or perspectives, which may be hard to relate to or fully understand. Problems that don’t align with their experiences or interests may feel particularly abstract or irrelevant. Difficulty Generalizing Skills: Word problems require students to apply mathematical skills in different contexts, which can be challenging if they struggle to generalize learned skills to new situations. Imagine that your teacher has drawn a graduated cylinder as part of a problem. In order to show there is liquid inside, they draw a dipped curve across the middle of the cylinder next to the mark for 5ml. They ask the students to answer how much liquid is in the cylinder. Most students write 5ml. But the ND students are litersl thinkers and they assume the teacher is asking them to determine how much less than 5 ml is in the cylinder because they dont understand the curve is there for any other resson thsn to show that the liquid is less than 5. Since that hasnt been covered in class, they raise their hand and ask. The teacher assumes they sre being a wise ass. The rest of the class laughs at them. This happens from kindergarten up, again and again. So you are certainly correct that one group doesnt care. Youre in it. |
Anonymous
MCPS doesn’t collect data on family income, family numbers, parent structure, religion, etc. The only thing they collect real data on for all students is race. So, everything is focused on race. Obviously, race is not the problem. But it is a very lazy way of analyzing problems and solutions. |
Anonymous
The good news is 99% of MCPS focus is on these students. In fact, they pretty much ignore everyone else. |
Anonymous
MCPS does have rigorous academics. You just have to make some effort and show aptitude. My kids were in CES+magnets for all of their school years. It worked out great even. They both ended up at Ivies and are doing well. |
Anonymous
How long ago? Now there is zero homework, no reading of whole novels, no real grammar, spelling, writing instruction. It’s just sad this race to the bottom. |
Anonymous
Race is what teachers and admin use to make assumptions about a student.  Please no need to reply with a: no they don't.
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