Serious Answers Only—How to Fix MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the honors and advanced classes in late elementary and middle school. Kids who are advanced need to feel challenged instead of dumbing everything down so people don’t feel left out is a terrible move.

This already exist. Compact math, ELC, CES program, magnet programs, HIGH classes, Honors classes and different math tracks in MS.

What middle school has honors classes? ELC has still not been implemented in all elementary schools.

+1. The only differentiated honors classes in middle school are advanced math classes and history. And MS magnet programs are a lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

MCPS seems great to me, but then again I don't expect the county to raise my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the honors and advanced classes in late elementary and middle school. Kids who are advanced need to feel challenged instead of dumbing everything down so people don’t feel left out is a terrible move.

This already exist. Compact math, ELC, CES program, magnet programs, HIGH classes, Honors classes and different math tracks in MS.

What middle school has honors classes? ELC has still not been implemented in all elementary schools.

+1. The only differentiated honors classes in middle school are advanced math classes and history. And MS magnet programs are a lottery.

It's not a true lottery just a lottery of the top 15%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the honors and advanced classes in late elementary and middle school. Kids who are advanced need to feel challenged instead of dumbing everything down so people don’t feel left out is a terrible move.

This already exist. Compact math, ELC, CES program, magnet programs, HIGH classes, Honors classes and different math tracks in MS.

What middle school has honors classes? ELC has still not been implemented in all elementary schools.

+1. The only differentiated honors classes in middle school are advanced math classes and history. And MS magnet programs are a lottery.

It's not a true lottery just a lottery of the top 15%.

Also, this was the last year of the lottery experiment that began because of the global pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Have school board members make a real salary and have independent staff. Nothing will change until the BoE actually fulfills it’s oversight duty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the honors and advanced classes in late elementary and middle school. Kids who are advanced need to feel challenged instead of dumbing everything down so people don’t feel left out is a terrible move.

This already exist. Compact math, ELC, CES program, magnet programs, HIGH classes, Honors classes and different math tracks in MS.

What middle school has honors classes? ELC has still not been implemented in all elementary schools.

+1. The only differentiated honors classes in middle school are advanced math classes and history. And MS magnet programs are a lottery.

It's not a true lottery just a lottery of the top 15%.

Right, they aren’t providing the classes to all the kids who qualified for them. I think they should absorb the magnet classes into the middle schools so kids can have access at their home schools. There are enough kids that qualify at all middle schools to justify this. Or at least do something like what they’re trying to doing with ELC.

[Anonymous]

Split into two districts - Along North and South border (not east and west because that creates more equity problems than it solves) - solves winter closings, and makes each district easier to manage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think PE is the reason kids aren't doing physical activity. It's a cultural issue. It's because:

- Kids don't run around outside doing unstructured activities anymore, everything is structured and their parents drive them to everything (including school even when they could walk)
- Sports have become hypercompetitive at young ages, in part because the previous model of community sports with parent volunteer coaches doesn't work anymore, nobody wants to coach
-Phones

I attended MCPS in the olden days and PE was dumb. I'm glad they've changed it.

This is silly and these are your values. There is nothing wrong with structured sports and parental supervision is a good thing and part of the issue.

Not all sports are competitive. We do a club sport and my kid is not the best. They do it for fun and exercise. We don’t even do many meets.

[Anonymous]

Better curriculum, traditional teaching, more homework and class work for repurpose, teachers review homework in class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

You need to approach the problem more seriously if you want serious answers.

At least try to define the problem besides your own vague feeling of disgust and decline (based on anonymous DCUM whines?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have the honors and advanced classes in late elementary and middle school. Kids who are advanced need to feel challenged instead of dumbing everything down so people don’t feel left out is a terrible move.

This already exist. Compact math, ELC, CES program, magnet programs, HIGH classes, Honors classes and different math tracks in MS.

What middle school has honors classes? ELC has still not been implemented in all elementary schools.

+1. The only differentiated honors classes in middle school are advanced math classes and history. And MS magnet programs are a lottery.

It's not a true lottery just a lottery of the top 15%.

Also, this was the last year of the lottery experiment that began because of the global pandemic.

The lottery was not caused by the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

More teachers, smaller classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make the BoE a full time position w/ salaries staff. MCPS is too big to have part-time accountability.

Add co-teachers or paras to all K-2 classes, and classes over 24 students in ES/MS. Make ES school teachers rotate around the grades in K-2 or 3-5. Have students stay with the same teacher for K and 1 to build continuity and support.

More counselors, particularly at the HS level, so actual academic advising and followup can occur.

Add administrative/case Mgmt support for SpecEd. Clearly state what SpecEd services are available and at what amount of time (regardless of FAPE, the number of people available is real and can only do so much).

Standardize some process and tools. I’m all for meeting people where they are but there is a little bit too much catering to everyone’s whims going on.

Plan for implementation of new programs/curriculum. This includes getting all the supplies early enough for review, training, and teacher planning. If you are implementing something Fall 2024, things should start arriving late winter2023/early spring 2024.

Impressive. These are good ideas.
Are you a teacher?

[Anonymous]

Eliminate GPA.
Implement knowledge and skills-based credits.

Final exams that cover the whole semester, year, and cumulative education. Stop "teaching" things that only matter for one month and are then forgotten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make the BOE a full-time position with more power and oversight focus instead of rubber stamping the superintendent's way and will

Bring back accountability and discipline to schools. Kids need it. It doesn't matter if it hurts their feelings. And don't alway listen to the noisiest, loudest complaining parent in the room. The silent majority want order and structure in schools and expect admins and teachers to bring it.

Focus on equal opportunities and not equal outcomes. Giving everyone the opportunity to do good is the moral and right thing to do. Giving everyone the same or similar outcomes, regardless of effort, ambition or initiative is not good. It creates entitled, lazy people who become piss-poor citizens and employees.

Bring back regular classes. This is tied to previous comment about equal opportunities, not outcomes, but kids who don't care about school should not be allowed to distract and corrupt kids who are interested and motivated to learn. Honors classes should be a safe haven for focused students. Everyone should have the opportunity to sign up for an honors class, but there should criteria those students are expected to meet and if they don't over time rise to meet them, be put back into the regular classes.

Either take PE seriously or remove it altogether. This idea that kids shouldn't change for PE or be forced to do physical activity is nuts. Childhood obesity is an epidemic and the gutting of any kind of mandate or requirement with regard to physical activity is a major contributor to this. Kids, especially those who've been babysat by screens, will be lazy, unmotivated and whine. Push them anyways. Either that, or just drop PE as a requirement altogether and stop wasting everyone's time.

Fix the cafeteria food. School lunches have never been gourmet, but the amount of kids who reject the food the school serves is alarming. That's a lot of money going down the drain. If MCPS is not capable of making food the students will eat, then we should stop having MCPS make lunch and just invite outside entities to serve lunch instead. But the waste that goes on right now is unsustainable.

This is mostly numbers stickers, not practical suggestions.