MCPS level of academic rigor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

Or do you mean the deluge of reminders or pointless info? For things that matter, be prepared to make it your second full time job in largest school district in MD. Welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

DP. I think you said she started in private school. That is a major difference. What you are describing is standard for secondary school in MCPS. If you are concerned, you can always ask for a conference with a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:families actually complain their kid is getting homework

+1 99% of the time my kids finish HW in school, in a class after CW is done, and/or at lunch. IMO, that's how little HW they had.

Math requires repetition, which means HW. It's no wonder why scores are down across the board.

[Anonymous]

Go on Khan Academy and find courses that are 1-2 levels or years above your current class, where possible. Make sure she can ace those quizzes and tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

I sometimes see comments from teachers on assignments in Canvas. You can adjust the notification settings there to send emails with teacher comments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

I sometimes see comments from teachers on assignments in Canvas. You can adjust the notification settings there to send emails with teacher comments.

My kid is in elementary and we also only get grades and days absent/days tardy + 15min once a year parent teacher conference. We always ask for another conference if/as things come up. It's not great for the reputation it has and why we moved here.

[Anonymous]

We have a blended family with 3 kids at W cluster in all AP/Honor's classes and one kid at a private high school with same course load. The public kids never have much work and speak of grade inflation and kids openly cheating during tests, etc. The private school kid works tremendously hard to make A's and follows a strict honor code. This kid complains regularly about how unfair it is that the others have it so easy. There is a huge difference in the kids' educational experience. This became much more apparent during covid and the gap has only remained consistently large since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid went through all 4 years at a W school like this. Took the most rigorous classes across the board. All honors and APs. Did almost all of her work in school and aside from studying for end of year AP exams, never spent more than an hour at night doing work, and often far less. It drove me crazy and I could never understand how she always got straight As with such little work in classes that were supposedly rigorous. I still don’t really know if she was just exceptionally organized and efficient or if it really was that much of a joke. Regardless, she is doing very well at a top college. First semester was an adjustment period, but it is for most kids. Your kid will be fine. Try not to worry.

Thank you so much for your advice. I hope my kid just falls exactly same into your kid's case. In her elementary school and until G7 we've got great lengthy feedbacks from class teachers in her school reports, so we had good understanding of how she was doing in her class. I also had chance of having regular, scheduled meeting with teachers. Here in MCPS however, I only get her grades and the number of absent days. That's it. There's no comments, feedbacks, nothing whatsoever. Is this same for all other schools in MCPS or just her school? I try not to worry and I don't believe she changed 180 all of a sudden in high school, but this lack of communication between the school and parents really makes me feel nervous.

I sometimes see comments from teachers on assignments in Canvas. You can adjust the notification settings there to send emails with teacher comments.

My kid is in elementary and we also only get grades and days absent/days tardy + 15min once a year parent teacher conference. We always ask for another conference if/as things come up. It's not great for the reputation it has and why we moved here.

Wow, 15min?! Enjoy it while you have it

[Anonymous]

This seems to be a problem with public schools nationwide. I have a kid who had straight As through a W schools (and high SAT) and is now at an Ivy. She said there is a stark contrast in public vs private school kids in work ethic. The private school kids sit somewhere quiet and focus and study hard on a regular basis, all semester. The public school kids, not so much.

She had a prof who said as much. He had a tendency to say the quiet part out loud and gave them a bit of a pep talk saying he wants EVERYONE to succeed. And then said, 'I've found from past semesters that I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'

Kind of a jerk thing to say, but it suggests that he can see a difference between public and private school kids...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a blended family with 3 kids at W cluster in all AP/Honor's classes and one kid at a private high school with same course load. The public kids never have much work and speak of grade inflation and kids openly cheating during tests, etc. The private school kid works tremendously hard to make A's and follows a strict honor code. This kid complains regularly about how unfair it is that the others have it so easy. There is a huge difference in the kids' educational experience. This became much more apparent during covid and the gap has only remained consistently large since then.

You could love them all the same and send all of them to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems to be a problem with public schools nationwide. I have a kid who had straight As through a W schools (and high SAT) and is now at an Ivy. She said there is a stark contrast in public vs private school kids in work ethic. The private school kids sit somewhere quiet and focus and study hard on a regular basis, all semester. The public school kids, not so much.

She had a prof who said as much. He had a tendency to say the quiet part out loud and gave them a bit of a pep talk saying he wants EVERYONE to succeed. And then said, 'I've found from past semesters that I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'

Kind of a jerk thing to say, but it suggests that he can see a difference between public and private school kids...

Seems strange that the prof would look up the students' high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems to be a problem with public schools nationwide. I have a kid who had straight As through a W schools (and high SAT) and is now at an Ivy. She said there is a stark contrast in public vs private school kids in work ethic. The private school kids sit somewhere quiet and focus and study hard on a regular basis, all semester. The public school kids, not so much.

She had a prof who said as much. He had a tendency to say the quiet part out loud and gave them a bit of a pep talk saying he wants EVERYONE to succeed. And then said, 'I've found from past semesters that I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'

Kind of a jerk thing to say, but it suggests that he can see a difference between public and private school kids...

Seems strange that the prof would look up the students' high schools.

Well, he could all he wants, but say it out loud like that? In front of the whole class? He is a sexist AND racist. I can't believe the school allows him to say those things in classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems to be a problem with public schools nationwide. I have a kid who had straight As through a W schools (and high SAT) and is now at an Ivy. She said there is a stark contrast in public vs private school kids in work ethic. The private school kids sit somewhere quiet and focus and study hard on a regular basis, all semester. The public school kids, not so much.

She had a prof who said as much. He had a tendency to say the quiet part out loud and gave them a bit of a pep talk saying he wants EVERYONE to succeed. And then said, 'I've found from past semesters that I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'

Kind of a jerk thing to say, but it suggests that he can see a difference between public and private school kids...

Seems strange that the prof would look up the students' high schools.

Well, he could all he wants, but say it out loud like that? In front of the whole class? He is a sexist AND racist. I can't believe the school allows him to say those things in classroom.

Is it sexist and racist if it’s true???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems to be a problem with public schools nationwide. I have a kid who had straight As through a W schools (and high SAT) and is now at an Ivy. She said there is a stark contrast in public vs private school kids in work ethic. The private school kids sit somewhere quiet and focus and study hard on a regular basis, all semester. The public school kids, not so much.

She had a prof who said as much. He had a tendency to say the quiet part out loud and gave them a bit of a pep talk saying he wants EVERYONE to succeed. And then said, 'I've found from past semesters that I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'

Kind of a jerk thing to say, but it suggests that he can see a difference between public and private school kids...

Seems strange that the prof would look up the students' high schools.

Well, he could all he wants, but say it out loud like that? In front of the whole class? He is a sexist AND racist. I can't believe the school allows him to say those things in classroom.

Is it sexist and racist if it’s true???

I tend to have kids drop out or not do well--especially women, minorities, and kids from public schools' (she is all three), 'so especially if you are in one of these categories, please come to office hours and we'll work through this stuff together to make sure you succeed.'[i]

Yes, it is a prototype example of sexism and racism.