Disturbing news on math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Exactly! I can not believe people are making excuses for Mont County. Those scores are horrific. The teachers are failing because the curriculumn is too rigid, test-focused and obviously does not connect with the average student.

Which didn't stop the anti-2.0 "MCPS is deliberately holding back my advanced student to close the achievement gap!" people from jumping right in.

[Anonymous]

Yes the numbers are only for kids that took Algebra after middle school so they are kids that were never strong in math to start with..combined with the fact that numerically the test is irrelevant to kids that did well. I am not too concerned.

Why is MCPS trying to weaken the strong in elementary and middle school by eliminating pathways for seeking a challenging math curriculum? Do they want these children, too, to fail or are they simply trying to hold them back (since these are not their own children) to close the achievement and performance gap in the County?

Very troubling. Even if students do not study 3/4 should not fail an exam after one whole year of studying the subject and taking cumulative quizzes, tests and exams up to this point ... not in algebra or mathematics. Why didn't the system know well ahead of time they would have > 50% flunk rate? Are MCPS math teachers that incompetent...yet we continue to give them raises in this economy?

[Anonymous]

This was not supposed to get out. This is pathetic for a "super" school system. I am appalled. MoCo loves welcoming and paying for illegals. I am sure this has a lot to do with it. It is a shame our taxes aren't going to legal kid's education. Instead it is going to ESOL and FARMS for illegals who don't pay a dime in taxes for their "free" education and meals. Say I am a bigot (aren't all those against amnesty a bigot, right?) but someone has got to understand that it is stretching education dollars too thin for this county. Illegal immigration up in MoCo by 550% in 8 years and the failing grades increasing more and more. The fact that kids can fail the test but still pass the class is a joke. Just keep moving along all these kids just to get them the heck out of the school. There are kids in my child's 1st grade class that absolutely can not speak English. How did they make it out of Kindergarten??

...the words of an illiterate, uneducated, unschooled and foolish bigot.

Tell us how the knowledge of the spoken American language by those speaking several languages affect the scores and performance on an Algebra or other higher mathematics examination?

What a pathetic fool. No wonder the children from non-English speaking nations do better than Americans on the international math and English language examinations (PISA).

[Anonymous]

Right because numerically, who cares about anyone but the ones that are easy to teach because they're so advanced anyway...Let's continue to fail more and more kids, because they're irrelevant.

Precisely, the arrogant teachers and MCPS leadership (2 billion dollar waste) can't teach. The excellent and high performing self-motivated students (from self motivated families) excel not because of MCPS. These students will do well ( and do) despite MCPS, MCPS teachers, elimination of math pathways, or curriculum 2.0. In fact, if you eliminate completely MCPS these students will strive and excel.

MCPS should stop bragging about their system that stands on the broad shoulders of self-motivated students and their families. Some of these teachers in the high performing schools should go teach in the lowest performing schools. Then and only then we will find out who can really teach from the majority riding on the coattails of bright students.

[Anonymous]

Arrogant bureaucratic MCPS leadership that can't refrain from telling the very families and their children, who prop up the national reputation of the system, they do not know what they are talking about when it comes to appropriate desires for a challenging curriculum. Parents no nothing about what their children need because they think their kids are all gifted. It appears Mr. Starr, your teachers can't teach math! What other subjects can't they teach? ...science?

[Anonymous]

Interesting. MCPS has been saying that they think kids were getting over accelerated in earlier grades leading to issues later on. The failure rates on finals for HS math up to pre-calc range from 63 to 47%. Now people are freaking out that they're removing some of the acceleration options. It seems to me that MCPS was probably right. The options they are putting in place still allow Calculus during the junior year for talented math students. Do they really need more than that? IMO, math above that level should really be taught in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not supposed to get out. This is pathetic for a "super" school system. I am appalled. MoCo loves welcoming and paying for illegals. I am sure this has a lot to do with it. It is a shame our taxes aren't going to legal kid's education. Instead it is going to ESOL and FARMS for illegals who don't pay a dime in taxes for their "free" education and meals. Say I am a bigot (aren't all those against amnesty a bigot, right?) but someone has got to understand that it is stretching education dollars too thin for this county. Illegal immigration up in MoCo by 550% in 8 years and the failing grades increasing more and more. The fact that kids can fail the test but still pass the class is a joke. Just keep moving along all these kids just to get them the heck out of the school. There are kids in my child's 1st grade class that absolutely can not speak English. How did they make it out of Kindergarten??

The only thing I agree with this poster.

I'll second that.

Missed the crucial logic lesson that correlation does not equal causation.

BTW, there are plenty of foreign children whose parents work for the World Bank, international firms, embassies, the NIH, etc who do not speak English well but who are here legally, are very bright, and who are not at all a burden on the system. At least this is the situation at Bethesda Elementary School, where my own children are.

So there are no illegal aliens in Bethesda Elementary? Every non-english student excels without the need for ESOL? Your ESOL teacher needs haven't doubled in the last 5 years taking away other teacher/para educator positions? For most schools in Rockville and Gaithersburg, there are a lot and the teachers and students struggle. Reading specialists for English speaking children are taken away for ESOL teachers. Projected enrollment in the last 5 years has been higher than anticipated here. Hundreds more with overcrowded schools and higher ratios and now less specialists to assist the average student. Not saying the poster went a little far in the hatred but the stress is actually there. Maybe not in your school but there are plenty that struggle with immigration.

+1
I am not sure when it became so politically correct to embrace and pay for illegal aliens but there is no denying they are eating the taxes going toward the average legal child's education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1
I am not sure when it became so politically correct to embrace and pay for illegal aliens but there is no denying they are eating the taxes going toward the average legal child's education.

Fact #1: a lot of the children you probably consider "illegal aliens" are US citizens.
Fact #2: "illegal aliens" also pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes the numbers are only for kids that took Algebra after middle school so they are kids that were never strong in math to start with..combined with the fact that numerically the test is irrelevant to kids that did well. I am not too concerned.

Why is MCPS trying to weaken the strong in elementary and middle school by eliminating pathways for seeking a challenging math curriculum? Do they want these children, too, to fail or are they simply trying to hold them back (since these are not their own children) to close the achievement and performance gap in the County?

Very troubling. Even if students do not study 3/4 should not fail an exam after one whole year of studying the subject and taking cumulative quizzes, tests and exams up to this point ... not in algebra or mathematics. Why didn't the system know well ahead of time they would have > 50% flunk rate? Are MCPS math teachers that incompetent...yet we continue to give them raises in this economy?

Shorter PP: Yes, I know that this shows there is a problem for the non-advanced children, but I want to talk about my problem!

[Anonymous]

Interesting. MCPS has been saying that they think kids were getting over accelerated in earlier grades leading to issues later on. The failure rates on finals for HS math up to pre-calc range from 63 to 47%. Now people are freaking out that they're removing some of the acceleration options. It seems to me that MCPS was probably right. The options they are putting in place still allow Calculus during the junior year for talented math students. Do they really need more than that? IMO, math above that level should really be taught in college.

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Interesting. MCPS has been saying that they think kids were getting over accelerated in earlier grades leading to issues later on. The failure rates on finals for HS math up to pre-calc range from 63 to 47%. Now people are freaking out that they're removing some of the acceleration options. It seems to me that MCPS was probably right. The options they are putting in place still allow Calculus during the junior year for talented math students. Do they really need more than that? IMO, math above that level should really be taught in college.

Why?

Your point is???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. MCPS has been saying that they think kids were getting over accelerated in earlier grades leading to issues later on. The failure rates on finals for HS math up to pre-calc range from 63 to 47%. Now people are freaking out that they're removing some of the acceleration options. It seems to me that MCPS was probably right. The options they are putting in place still allow Calculus during the junior year for talented math students. Do they really need more than that? IMO, math above that level should really be taught in college.

This happens more often that you think. If your kids need a tutor or fails exams as they progress in math, don't blame MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Now, MCPS is going to blame this significant flunk rate on over acceleration? It will be interesting to see if applying the brakes with curriculum 2.0 will reverse this miserable performance in its track.

[Anonymous]

PP, MCPS has been saying that kids were getting over-accelerated, leading to problems later on. MCPS is not saying that this is the cause of the flunk rate among the kids who were not accelerated, either appropriately or over-.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Interesting. MCPS has been saying that they think kids were getting over accelerated in earlier grades leading to issues later on. The failure rates on finals for HS math up to pre-calc range from 63 to 47%. Now people are freaking out that they're removing some of the acceleration options. It seems to me that MCPS was probably right. The options they are putting in place still allow Calculus during the junior year for talented math students. Do they really need more than that? IMO, math above that level should really be taught in college.

Why?

Because the peer group and number of kids taking a class would be much bigger. I've also read numerous times that these college level courses that kids are taking aren't really college level. Many good colleges no longer offer college credit. Even if they do skip taking them in college they'll probably be at a disadvantage.