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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

DP.

Me: My kids are getting a good education in MCPS.
You: No, they're not!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

So they are 1/6 each or 1/3 each so two tests are 2/3 of the entire grade( which I would hate that for my child). They do have quarterly assessments now. They are not weighted as much as the finals which were 20% of the semester grade. I would rather they went back to finals but were able to schedule them within a block of the school day so they did not take a whole week of school time. I don't think AP classes should have finals however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Similarly I like going to the private school threads to confirm that I want to keep my kids in public!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

So they are 1/6 each or 1/3 each so two tests are 2/3 of the entire grade( which I would hate that for my child). They do have quarterly assessments now. They are not weighted as much as the finals which were 20% of the semester grade. I would rather they went back to finals but were able to schedule them within a block of the school day so they did not take a whole week of school time. I don't think AP classes should have finals however.

Hi, the exams are 1/3 of the semester grade...Q1 is 1/3, Q2 is 1/3 and Midterm is 1/3. Similar for 2nd semester and final exam. So as you put it, each exam is worth 1/6 of the entire year grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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...

Wow, absolutely none of these statements is true for our elementary. Well except for not having Spanish three times per week- that’s true, we don’t have that. Pp your elementary sounds horrid. Or perhaps your exaggerating...hmmm...
My kids have no vision problems from chrome books, write paragraphs for various writing styles, practice cursive, practice geography for a bee held recently, get graded papers sent home. I don’t know WHAT you’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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...

Wow, absolutely none of these statements is true for our elementary. Well except for not having Spanish three times per week- that’s true, we don’t have that. Pp your elementary sounds horrid. Or perhaps your exaggerating...hmmm...
My kids have no vision problems from chrome books, write paragraphs for various writing styles, practice cursive, practice geography for a bee held recently, get graded papers sent home. I don’t know WHAT you’re talking about.

+1. Our school doesn't have Spanish in ES; zero textbooks bother me, and snow days downright piss me off -- but, come on, there are report cards in MCPS, there are books in the library, and no one is going blind from Chromebooks, unless your kid is staring at the screen at home non-stop.

My main beef with MCPS is the lack of continuity and clarity in the curriculum and lack of transparency in the educational process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

And you suggesting that all the kids should become illiterate because somebody on DCUM is successful without being able to spell?

FFS people, you are going from "spelling isn't as important as the thought process and critical writing skills" to "kids should become illiterate because an adult is successful even though he is a bad speller". Good gracious. Some of you are lacking critical thinking skills yourselves.

A 2nd grade teacher up thread stated why they don't focus on spelling as much during the writing process.

[Anonymous]

I was what you call a Friday morning speller. I could memorize those words for a test but that had no impact on spelling them correctly long term. I am a believer that lots of reading is the best way to learn spelling. I would rather classroom time be spent in another way personally.

[Anonymous]

Westbrook ES has PTA Spanish at 8am several times a week. It is very popular.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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...

Wow, absolutely none of these statements is true for our elementary. Well except for not having Spanish three times per week- that’s true, we don’t have that. Pp your elementary sounds horrid. Or perhaps your exaggerating...hmmm...
My kids have no vision problems from chrome books, write paragraphs for various writing styles, practice cursive, practice geography for a bee held recently, get graded papers sent home. I don’t know WHAT you’re talking about.

+1. Our school doesn't have Spanish in ES; zero textbooks bother me, and snow days downright piss me off -- but, come on, there are report cards in MCPS, there are books in the library, and no one is going blind from Chromebooks, unless your kid is staring at the screen at home non-stop.

My main beef with MCPS is the lack of continuity and clarity in the curriculum and lack of transparency in the educational process.

That is significant "beef"!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Similarly I like going to the private school threads to confirm that I want to keep my kids in public!

A freaking men.
- Big 3 grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Westbrook ES has PTA Spanish at 8am several times a week. It is very popular.

Many elementary schools do..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was what you call a Friday morning speller. I could memorize those words for a test but that had no impact on spelling them correctly long term. I am a believer that lots of reading is the best way to learn spelling. I would rather classroom time be spent in another way personally.

ITA. Reading challenging and well written books is also the best way to learn grammar, IMO.

[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.

Out of curiosity, why would anyone want to buy the 2.0 math curriculum from Pearson when Pearson has its own curriculum (e.g., enVision) that more time has been put into? Has anyone paid Pearson anything to buy 2.0?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

DP.

Me: My kids are getting a good education in MCPS.
You: No, they're not!

PP here. I am just basing my assumption on the fact that there are 18 pages of unhappy mcps parents whining about the lack of grammar and writing instruction among other things. Perhaps you are happy, but that doesn't mean the curriculum is competitive with the rest of the country/world and private schools that are light years ahead of mcps.