interesting discussion regarding abysmal decline of MoCo schools

[Anonymous]

You get what you vote for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just clicked on the link. Thanks for posting. Most people make really good points. Unfortunately, our BOE and MCPS leadership don’t care.

Smaller class sizes and better discipline sounds like common requests that I think, everyone could get behind. Why can’t MCPS start there?

Except that costs money and a tax hike needed to pay for this will mostly go to create more central office jobs.

The bottom line is MCPS is about the same or even better than years past, the demographics of the county are what has changed. That has an impact on standardized test scores but doesn't mean you can't get a great education. People just need to accept and adapt instead of focusing on a past that never really existed.

Blaming it on “changing demographics” is just an excuse to lay the decline of MCPS at the feet of the black and brown students and not the incompetent administration.

DP here. I don't think anyone is blaming the changing demographics. Or at least they shouldn't. The issue is that MCPS has been using the wrong strategies for addressing the needs of the changing demographics

That's a nice way to put it, but the fact is that the local public schools systems are run by educrats, many former teachers or principals who "failed upward," who end up holding teachers to unreasonable standards and then refusing to have the back of school-based teachers and administrators when they seek some level of accountability for students who, if nothing else, have figured out how the system can now be gamed to their advantage.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County is very similar to MoCo in terms of population, demographics, and income level. How come FCPS does better than MCPS? It comes down to management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is very similar to MoCo in terms of population, demographics, and income level. How come FCPS does better than MCPS? It comes down to management.

Who says FCPS does?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is very similar to MoCo in terms of population, demographics, and income level. How come FCPS does better than MCPS? It comes down to management.

Who says FCPS does?

This!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a MCPS issue it’s a U.S. issue because we want to test and measure every little thing which takes time away from actual instruction. Parents want Mercedes level education but want to pay Hyundai standard level prices. Education requires investment in teacher training, teacher salary, and in actual schools and students. Further, schools do WAAY more than just focus on education including feeding and connection with social services for kids. They have unfounded mandates like I.D.E.A.

When we remove the politics of the above and address them as though our population matters, we’ll see change. Until then, people will continue complaining and believing that Charter schools or Private schools can be the answer, only to determine that’s not a panacea. Hi

The amount of testing isn't that much and it gives a baseline as to where kids are at. We found the testing helpful depending on the test. I like the MAP testing and I liked the PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is very similar to MoCo in terms of population, demographics, and income level. How come FCPS does better than MCPS? It comes down to management.

Who says FCPS does?

NoVa lovers who claim MoCo sucks and FCPS is much better. They always come on this forum claiming how MoCo sucks, and NoVa is sooo much better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Publics are trash everywhere yuck

Not at all. Small rich public districts that pay for the schools via property taxes can spend well over 30 grand per pupil. They cost a fortune and you get what you pay for including high quality faculty and administration.

This. Think: Scarsdale.

Those small, rich districts will most likely have the same outcome if they spent ~16k per student because they are educating wealthy students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The title of this thread is not what's being discussed in the reddit discussion.

Amen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Publics are trash everywhere yuck

Not at all. Small rich public districts that pay for the schools via property taxes can spend well over 30 grand per pupil. They cost a fortune and you get what you pay for including high quality faculty and administration.

MCPS spends a ton of money per pupil. I’d have to find the stat, but MCPS is well-funded. The BOE even admitted it!

It’s just that MCPs wastes a TON of money on useless Central Office positions and useless initiatives that don’t directly benefit students.

If someone did a serious audit and cut out all the useless spending we could have more teachers, more paraprofessionals, more services for kids who need it and do the necessary repairs on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of the demographics, they don't provide enough interventions for K-1st grade students struggling with reading and the basics. They let the kids fail and only superficially help in later ES when its to late.

They need to bring back more structure, text books, teach the basics in terms of spelling, grammar, and math facts and have accountability with both the teachers and students. My kids have read one book this entire school year. Most school years they read two books at best. It's absurd. They do work a lot with writing skills, but that doesn't help kids struggling with the basics.

They need to get rid of all the fluff in the curriculum, the group projects, the constant group discussion and the repeated health education and other classes that teach the same stuff over and over again.

MCPS needs to prepare students to succeed in the 20th century workforce!

If kids cannot read and do basic math, then they aren't prepared for the 20th century. You need to start with the basics first especially in ES. The curriculum is horrible for kids like mine. Thank goodness for the free tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Publics are trash everywhere yuck

Not at all. Small rich public districts that pay for the schools via property taxes can spend well over 30 grand per pupil. They cost a fortune and you get what you pay for including high quality faculty and administration.

This. Think: Scarsdale.

These are schools in rich bubbles. Every student should be able to attend such a great school but they require very high financial investment in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of the demographics, they don't provide enough interventions for K-1st grade students struggling with reading and the basics. They let the kids fail and only superficially help in later ES when its to late.

They need to bring back more structure, text books, teach the basics in terms of spelling, grammar, and math facts and have accountability with both the teachers and students. My kids have read one book this entire school year. Most school years they read two books at best. It's absurd. They do work a lot with writing skills, but that doesn't help kids struggling with the basics.

They need to get rid of all the fluff in the curriculum, the group projects, the constant group discussion and the repeated health education and other classes that teach the same stuff over and over again.

MCPS needs to prepare students to succeed in the 20th century workforce!

If kids cannot read and do basic math, then they aren't prepared for the 20th century. You need to start with the basics first especially in ES. The curriculum is horrible for kids like mine. Thank goodness for the free tutoring.

Can you tell me more about what you've used the free tutoring for? Reading? What methods do they use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is way, way too big. It should be broken down to the level where each high school is its own school district.

Agree, but it will not happen. One size does not fit all. Need localized clusters and school boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax County is very similar to MoCo in terms of population, demographics, and income level. How come FCPS does better than MCPS? It comes down to management.

I don’t think Fairfax County does ‘better’.