Time for a mutiny yet? MCPS = crummy math, no grammar, poor writing

[Anonymous]

Private school mom here. I love coming to this forum to find threads like this. Makes me realize every penny we spend on tuition is worth it. Sorry you guys are dealing with such mediocrity.

[Anonymous]

When and how do people figure out that the curriculum is lacking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the drivers for why MCPS is worse than other school systems is the attitude that getting bad grades will make kids feel bad.

MCPS is very against actually grading kids because they believe bad grades will destroy a child's confidence. They also know that getting bad grades will invite more parents to seek services if their child has a learning disability. For higher SES families, a child coming home with bad grades results in more studying at home, tutors and work to get the grades up. In lower SES families, it usually results in a child not getting any additional help and later dropping out. From the MCPS standpoint - it better if no one learns than see an increase in the achievement gap if more higher SES students do better. Grade inflation in MCPS is all about keeping MCPS employees happy and everyone blissfully ignorant that everyone is doing a great job.


It works if your kid stays in MCPS for their entire K-12 experience but they are in for a rude awakening.

That is truly awful. We are one of the richest counties in the entire world and that’s what you get for all that money ?
My kids go to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand this obsession about writing. Research shows that there are 4 stages of learning a language --understand, speak, read then write. Somehow in the schools, everything is happening simultaneously where the writing process is before understanding (vocabulary, idioms). Also, what's this idée fixe about plagiarism and original ideas? I mean when a student is trying to answer a question by analyzing a book, there are going to be overlaps, which wo;; causing problems. So after writing, students are obsessing about putting their essay into programs to see what percentage is coming as "plagiarism" before changing and tweaking sentences and ideas, and resulting into am overall less interesting essay ...

It is possible to refer to a text without plagarizing. It is called quoting or citing. This practice actually makes an essay more interesting to read because you cann include the passage you are analyzing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the drivers for why MCPS is worse than other school systems is the attitude that getting bad grades will make kids feel bad.

MCPS is very against actually grading kids because they believe bad grades will destroy a child's confidence. They also know that getting bad grades will invite more parents to seek services if their child has a learning disability. For higher SES families, a child coming home with bad grades results in more studying at home, tutors and work to get the grades up. In lower SES families, it usually results in a child not getting any additional help and later dropping out. From the MCPS standpoint - it better if no one learns than see an increase in the achievement gap if more higher SES students do better. Grade inflation in MCPS is all about keeping MCPS employees happy and everyone blissfully ignorant that everyone is doing a great job.


It works if your kid stays in MCPS for their entire K-12 experience but they are in for a rude awakening.

That is truly awful. We are one of the richest counties in the entire world and that’s what you get for all that money ?
My kids go to private.

It certainly doesn’t make MCPS teachers happy. But parents have to take responsibility too. I work in the system and I can’t tell you how many times parents have complained that their child was graded too harshly. I think too many teachers give in to that pressure, which creates a culture where others think they need to do the same to protect their child. But of course they’re not protecting their child at all. Special ed is a disgrace in MCPS. So many kids don’t get services who should, and so many rich kids with privately done tests sail through the process. But honestly, the services aren’t so great even if you do get them, which is why the rich kids still add on tutoring and outside OT and speech therapy etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the obsession with spelling? When was the last time you had to write a doc on a piece of paper instead of a word processor? I spelled "obssessed" on this forum, and it underlined it in red so I knew I spelled it incorrectly. My spelling has always sucked, and we had spelling tests growing up, as do my MCPS ES kids. My spelling still sucks. Thank goodness for spell checker, yet I still got a good paying job (six figures) where I use my analytical, critical thinking and tech skills. Even when I write an email at work, it spell checks for me. My grammar is fine, good enough to get my point across without people misunderstanding. Spelling? No one cares that much, especially because we have spellchecker.



OK. I can't even believe someone actually believes this. Scary Sh*t.

On the same line of thinking: "If I don't use math, nobody should care about it because we have calculators."

I don't understand your disbelief. Here is somebody who says that they spell badly, are successful, and are grateful for spell-checker. Do you think they're lying? Or that bad spelling skills inescapably lead to failure in life?

Do you know the difference between evidence and anecdotal evidence? Him being successful without being able to spell doesn't mean that spelling is useless and should be neglected in school.

It certainly suggests that ability to spell correctly in English isn't necessary for success.

Id still like him to qualify what he in fact means by self-alledging he is “successful”.
Like making $750k base plus $2m bonus writing investment memos, negotiating takeover deals, presenting to sophisticated investment committees, Carlyle buyouts team successful or just hasn’t been fired from his in the lab research job with minimal original writing or speaking successful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When and how do people figure out that the curriculum is lacking?

When they take a tour
When they talk to parents and older kids
When they get no report card or graded work back.
When their kids hang out w cousins from another state.
When they go nearsighted in grade 2 from Chromebook games.
When they are 9 yo and don’t know what a sentence is, what biology vs geography vs history is.
When you realize no real art will ever come home because there is a part time art teacher and only once a week so coloring is where it’s at for six years straight.
When ever other ES in the country has Spanish 3x a week but not MCPS.
When the library is dismantled in favor of cheap digital book excerpts and zero textbooks.
Snow days when it’s hot out or rainy out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the drivers for why MCPS is worse than other school systems is the attitude that getting bad grades will make kids feel bad.

MCPS is very against actually grading kids because they believe bad grades will destroy a child's confidence. They also know that getting bad grades will invite more parents to seek services if their child has a learning disability. For higher SES families, a child coming home with bad grades results in more studying at home, tutors and work to get the grades up. In lower SES families, it usually results in a child not getting any additional help and later dropping out. From the MCPS standpoint - it better if no one learns than see an increase in the achievement gap if more higher SES students do better. Grade inflation in MCPS is all about keeping MCPS employees happy and everyone blissfully ignorant that everyone is doing a great job.


It works if your kid stays in MCPS for their entire K-12 experience but they are in for a rude awakening.

That is truly awful. We are one of the richest counties in the entire world and that’s what you get for all that money ?
My kids go to private.

It certainly doesn’t make MCPS teachers happy. But parents have to take responsibility too. I work in the system and I can’t tell you how many times parents have complained that their child was graded too harshly. I think too many teachers give in to that pressure, which creates a culture where others think they need to do the same to protect their child. But of course they’re not protecting their child at all. Special ed is a disgrace in MCPS. So many kids don’t get services who should, and so many rich kids with privately done tests sail through the process. But honestly, the services aren’t so great even if you do get them, which is why the rich kids still add on tutoring and outside OT and speech therapy etc.

My DD went to a hard private school with another girl. Hard meaning if you didn’t work your read off they would give you bad grades. It was very hard to earn an A.

The other girl was toward the bottom of the class - she would get some B’s and C’s . Teachers thought that she wasn’t too bright. She switched to a W school and is taking honors classes and is getting A’s.

Plus you would think that MCPS gets tons of money because many people pay taxes but send their kids to private schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school mom here. I love coming to this forum to find threads like this. Makes me realize every penny we spend on tuition is worth it. Sorry you guys are dealing with such mediocrity.

sorry you haven't learned the definitions of condescension and compassion

Furthermore, if you're in the county - and you're apparently "in the know" - you must recognize that property values and schools go hand-in-hand. So while snowflake is comfortable in his/her private bubble, there's no promise that your home, even if you're located in a "better" section - will maintain its value if the county keeps heading in a direction of uncontrollable growth.

I've been in this county my entire life, and 2018 is the year I'm moving out.

While I support "fighting the good fight," sometimes it's best to admit defeat. Unless the county restructures itself to mirror townships - or to at least divide into quadrants, the kids in the middle will receive subpar instruction.

not good for property values . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When and how do people figure out that the curriculum is lacking?

When they take a tour
When they talk to parents and older kids
When they get no report card or graded work back.
When their kids hang out w cousins from another state.
When they go nearsighted in grade 2 from Chromebook games.
When they are 9 yo and don’t know what a sentence is, what biology vs geography vs history is.
When you realize no real art will ever come home because there is a part time art teacher and only once a week so coloring is where it’s at for six years straight.
When ever other ES in the country has Spanish 3x a week but not MCPS.
When the library is dismantled in favor of cheap digital book excerpts and zero textbooks.
Snow days when it’s hot out or rainy out.

"When ever other ES in the country has Spanish 3x a week but not MCPS".

When you say things like this I have to wonder about the rest of your statements. I work with people from a wide number of counties in MD and VA. No one has Spanish 3 days a week. I am sure there are districts that do but MCPS is not alone..with Spanish or snow days or tablets...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school mom here. I love coming to this forum to find threads like this. Makes me realize every penny we spend on tuition is worth it. Sorry you guys are dealing with such mediocrity.

sorry you haven't learned the definitions of condescension and compassion

Furthermore, if you're in the county - and you're apparently "in the know" - you must recognize that property values and schools go hand-in-hand. So while snowflake is comfortable in his/her private bubble, there's no promise that your home, even if you're located in a "better" section - will maintain its value if the county keeps heading in a direction of uncontrollable growth.

I've been in this county my entire life, and 2018 is the year I'm moving out.

While I support "fighting the good fight," sometimes it's best to admit defeat. Unless the county restructures itself to mirror townships - or to at least divide into quadrants, the kids in the middle will receive subpar instruction.

not good for property values . . .

Theresa lot more wrong with the County besides the schools now but yes - this.
Please people - vote the politicians who ran this county into the ground OUT of office. Don’t just show up and checkk off the boxes of names that you’ve seen before. Don’t check off what the Democratic or Republican patties tell you to. Get involved and educate yourselves and vote accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As someone whose kids are older (youngest is HS junior), I want to offer a little context.

I agree the math curriculum is wretched. However, there were significant problems with the curriculum preceding 2.0 and common core. I think elementary math is about the same now as it was then, although there is less opportunity for acceleration. Middle school math may have changed, although I remember parents (and math teachers) complaining about how Geometry didn't include proofs and Algebra was a fake Algebra course, where there was too much emphasis on data analysis and not enough on traditional concepts.

I agree that the Reading/English is also wretched. It too, is basically unchanged under 2.0. I believe they did change the reading materials to include Science and Social studies topics. If so, I consider this a positive step. Pre-2.0, these subjects were woefully inadequate.

MCPS develops this curriculum and sells it to Pearson to market. (MCPS had tried to market it themselves before that, largely unsuccessfully.)

This FAQ from MCPS addresses both the changes that occurred with 2.0 and relationship with Pearson.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/2.0/faq.aspx

The MCPS curriculum is content light in all the ways previous posters have described. I know this both from talking to teachers and being part of a curriculum committee. When students receive strong content instruction (i.e. grammar, handwriting, etc.), it is coming from the teacher, not as part of the curriculum, but in spite of the curriculum. If your student has had such a teacher, consider yourself fortunate, because it's largely luck of the draw. I have seen significant differences between 2 different teachers teaching the same grade in the same school. There may be cases where a principal mandates specific approaches for a school; I can't speak to that. However, in my experience, the position of ES principal is just a stepping stone resulting in rapid turnover (The average tenure of principals in my children's schools (they switched in fourth for HGC) was about 2 years. I suspect the teacher's instructional inclinations have more impact overall on what subject matter is actually taught to your child.

Thank you for this insight.

What did you do to help your kids? We can’t afford private. So far, we do a TON of supplementing outside the classroom. But this will get harder in MS, I assume? Did you feel like the Magnets did a better job?

[Anonymous]

There's some discussion going on in a thread titled Perfect Score on ACT on the College forum. OP mentioned something about grade inflation, and everyone over there is in a tizzy. A lot of defensive posters...definitely a different tone than this thread!

That being said, there was mention about the fact that exams have been eliminated from high school curriculum. But someone chimed in and said that MCPS now gives "quarterly exams." Just curious...if this is true, are the exams weighted like a typical exam in the student's quarterly grade? My private school DC has mid term and final and both of these are worth 1/3 of the semester grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private school mom here. I love coming to this forum to find threads like this. Makes me realize every penny we spend on tuition is worth it. Sorry you guys are dealing with such mediocrity.

That’s the thing. Most of the people bashing MCPS are private schools parents so they can feel better about spending money for an inferior product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private school mom here. I love coming to this forum to find threads like this. Makes me realize every penny we spend on tuition is worth it. Sorry you guys are dealing with such mediocrity.

That’s the thing. Most of the people bashing MCPS are private schools parents so they can feel better about spending money for an inferior product.

Hah...nice try! Another MCPS parent in complete denial.