Question about middle school English differentiation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

I had a kid in a CES and we were basically just lucky to get the spot. There are plenty of kids on the CES Wait List who would benefit from differentiation in ES, but don’t receive it. The number of CES spots is limited and MS Magnet spots are even MORE limited.

ELC? Not offered any all schools. Not offered at my kids’ home school.

I saw how differentiation worked in early ES for my advance reader. Basically, the teachers spent more time with the kids who need extra help, and the more advanced reading groups spend time ‘reading amongst themselves’ or ‘doing peer reviews’ - yeah, works great with second graders.

And we’re not talking about Math in this thread.

So, actually your post simply supports the point that MCPS does not like to encourage differentiation in ES and MS for Language Arts/Writing. Except for a tiny, tiny, tiny subset of kids who may happen to get into a Magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

This thread is about language arts, not math. There is no differentiation for LA in most middle schools. And yes the grass is greener elsewhere. Not that it’s a fair comparison but I decided to go private after my CES kid didn’t get a magnet spot, and it is so different from his classmates at the local school. I honestly don’t know if there will be differentiation but they have already written several essays with feedback and have vocabulary and grammar assignments. It feels like a continuation of CES. If the local middle school offered something like that, we would have stayed.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

This thread is about MS English. It’s in the title.

It is true that MCPS does not offer meaningful differentiation in English and Writing, except for a minuscule percentage of kids who are accepted into one of the Magnets.
What percentage of kids in MCPS have access to an enriched/accelerated/advanced curriculum in MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

This thread is about MS English. It’s in the title.

It is true that MCPS does not offer meaningful differentiation in English and Writing, except for a minuscule percentage of kids who are accepted into one of the Magnets.
What percentage of kids in MCPS have access to an enriched/accelerated/advanced curriculum in MS?

Exactly. The only kids offered meaningful differentiation in English in MS are at Eastern. There are 37,000+ kids in middle school in MCPS. How many are in the Eastern magnet? 300 or so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

This thread is about MS English. It’s in the title.

It is true that MCPS does not offer meaningful differentiation in English and Writing, except for a minuscule percentage of kids who are accepted into one of the Magnets.
What percentage of kids in MCPS have access to an enriched/accelerated/advanced curriculum in MS?

Exactly. The only kids offered meaningful differentiation in English in MS are at Eastern. There are 37,000+ kids in middle school in MCPS. How many are in the Eastern magnet? 300 or so?

Plus those at the MLK magnet too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here, thank you for the responses. I assumed they would still group the kids according to ability, but I guess not. This doesn’t seem to be good for anyone but the middle.

It is not good for the middle, either, because they get stuck with a lot of kids who aren’t paying attention. (Either because it is too easy boring, or because they don’t care)

Yeah, I was thinking this also. It’s not good for any student.

But MCPS dislikes differentiation in ES and MS because it doesn’t help close the Achievement Gap and it racially discriminatory. So, basically, now kids of ALL races are left to suffer because nobody gets any quality writing instruction in MS.

Clearly this is untrue or they wouldn’t offer things like Enriched Literacy, CES, Magnet programs, or accelerated Math. Not to mention basic reading groups. You could make the case that not all teachers or all schools do differentiation well, but saying MCPS doesn’t like it is just false.

What percentage of MCPS kids attend a MCPS Magnet MS and have access to the enriched MS Language Arts curriculum?

We don't enriched LA curriculum at our MS. We have accelerated math only because they put the kids in higher grade math classes and bus the kids for Algebra 2 to the high school.

But yet some MS do offer Algebra2. As noted others bus kids to the HS for Algebra 2. Which further supports the point that MCPS is not against differentiation. Its like some of ya’ll get joy from making these broad sweeping(usually negative) generalizations. As though the grass is greener somewhere else and you’re being held hostage here in MCPS.

This thread is about MS English. It’s in the title.

It is true that MCPS does not offer meaningful differentiation in English and Writing, except for a minuscule percentage of kids who are accepted into one of the Magnets.
What percentage of kids in MCPS have access to an enriched/accelerated/advanced curriculum in MS?

Exactly. The only kids offered meaningful differentiation in English in MS are at Eastern. There are 37,000+ kids in middle school in MCPS. How many are in the Eastern magnet? 300 or so?

Plus those at the MLK magnet too.

Great. Add those in. Maybe a max of 600 kids in the whole county who get into the middle school magnet and get an enriched curriculum in English? That might even be an overestimate.

600 kids out of 37,000. I’m not great at Math, but that’s maybe 2% of kids getting enrichment in MS. Every other kid is stuck in not advanced ‘Advanced English’ just wasting time.

[Anonymous]

I think there are two issues here, and they might need to be tackled separately.

1) Curriculum: MCPS has decided that all MS-aged kids would have access to the "Advanced English" curriculum. However, within that curriculum, there are massive disparities across schools. Some MS-ers never read a book in "Advanced English," while others read several per year.

Why the huge swing? MCPS has never said and the only reason folks know it exists is people speaking across schools.

2) Tracking: Back when MCPS introduced "local norming" to the middle school magnet process, there was an explicit promise that those kids would be cohorted. I'm not sure if they ever followed through, but parents should put pressure on to hold them to that promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The classes are mixed ability. But our school had a presentation at some point about how they can differentiate individual students' assignments within StudySync so they are reading at the appropriate levels.

We were told that, but it is BS.

Not only is there no differentiation, there is also very little feedback. My kid is in 8th and has never gotten a writing assignment back with so strict I’ve feedback.

She gets As for completion, basically. Turn in something, even with craptastic writing? It gets an A.

Its definitely mixed ability, but DS always got feedback in 7th grade and plenty of opportunity to make improvements on his writing. A's were definitely not just handed out. We will see what 8th grade brings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are two issues here, and they might need to be tackled separately.

1) Curriculum: MCPS has decided that all MS-aged kids would have access to the "Advanced English" curriculum. However, within that curriculum, there are massive disparities across schools. Some MS-ers never read a book in "Advanced English," while others read several per year.

Why the huge swing? MCPS has never said and the only reason folks know it exists is people speaking across schools.

2) Tracking: Back when MCPS introduced "local norming" to the middle school magnet process, there was an explicit promise that those kids would be cohorted. I'm not sure if they ever followed through, but parents should put pressure on to hold them to that promise.

My middle school kid had to do several book reports last year. What are other schools doing if kids aren't doing book reports or reading assigned books?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are two issues here, and they might need to be tackled separately.

1) Curriculum: MCPS has decided that all MS-aged kids would have access to the "Advanced English" curriculum. However, within that curriculum, there are massive disparities across schools. Some MS-ers never read a book in "Advanced English," while others read several per year.

Why the huge swing? MCPS has never said and the only reason folks know it exists is people speaking across schools.

2) Tracking: Back when MCPS introduced "local norming" to the middle school magnet process, there was an explicit promise that those kids would be cohorted. I'm not sure if they ever followed through, but parents should put pressure on to hold them to that promise.

My middle school kid had to do several book reports last year. What are other schools doing if kids aren't doing book reports or reading assigned books?

They are still doing book reports on books the child chooses, but in terms of assigned reading, they are only getting excerpts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are two issues here, and they might need to be tackled separately.

1) Curriculum: MCPS has decided that all MS-aged kids would have access to the "Advanced English" curriculum. However, within that curriculum, there are massive disparities across schools. Some MS-ers never read a book in "Advanced English," while others read several per year.

Why the huge swing? MCPS has never said and the only reason folks know it exists is people speaking across schools.

2) Tracking: Back when MCPS introduced "local norming" to the middle school magnet process, there was an explicit promise that those kids would be cohorted. I'm not sure if they ever followed through, but parents should put pressure on to hold them to that promise.

My middle school kid had to do several book reports last year. What are other schools doing if kids aren't doing book reports or reading assigned books?

They are still doing book reports on books the child chooses, but in terms of assigned reading, they are only getting excerpts.

DP. My 8th grader has already been assigned a whole book to read.