Terribly disappointed in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were moving to MCPS and had it to do again, how would go about selecting your school/neighborhood? More focus on the comments on DCUM? More focus on Greatschools? Visits? (do people do that?)

We did that move and ended up very happy with our MCPS school. Ask questions about specific schools (and any special needs your kids might have). Visit the school. (Yes, it is possible, though availability might vary by school. Also, the year is drawing to a close.) Look at the school and PTA websites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wootten cluster. I don't want to post the specific school. I don't think there are many people with a K and 1st grader.

I find it very hard to believe that a Wootten cluster elementary school is teaching preschool material to K-1st graders. Your kids have the same curriculum as my Whitman cluster elementary school kids. I am actually astonished by the level of difficulty of the work being taught in my child's first grade class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree though I think there are some great teachers. The problem is that the great teachers are struggling to deal with the nonsense of 2.0. The changes in 2.0 really benefit the worst teachers. We have two kids and it was very interesting how two different teachers handled the assessments and grade cards. One teacher was fabulous, let is slip several times how she hates the new grading system, gave us actual feedback on our child, and showed us work from our child that illustrated what she was reporting. It was very similar from what we experienced in the past.

The other teacher was the exact opposite. She would only hold one parent teacher conference the entire year as this is what is now prescribed under 2.0. You can ask a specific question later in the year but not request any general updates. At the one conference, she had no examples of our child's work or anything to show other than her sheet which matched the grade card. Her response was that under 2.0 unit testing is not done and written work is greatly reduced. The kids simply do activities in class and she observed. The principal confirmed that this is what 2.0 calls for and there is little to show the parents. This is just sheer laziness.

I used to teach and it was a lot of work to fairly and accurately assign granular grades and meaningful comments. Doing this forces you to have a clear set of criteria that you can follow, actually pay attention to the work the students are doing, and think about what the student should do to move to the next level. This "P" system would have saved me hours and hours of work. I can see why the bad teachers love it and the good teachers think its BS.

I can see why some principals like it because everyone is proficient, job done. I can see why MCPS likes it because they can reduce resources to support any differentiation, reduce resources for special needs kids, and not deal with kids that are smart but not super gifted. It also lets MCPS artificially inflate the performance of their schools.

I think that you are making some mistakes over what is and isn't 2.0. It is NOT 2.0 to have only one parent/teacher conference a year. As before 2.0, there is only one scheduled (over Veterans Day), but that doesn't mean you're not allowed to have more. It is also NOT 2.0 to greatly reduce written work. (In fact, my 2.0 first-grader has had much more written work than my pre-2.0 first grader.) It is also NOT 2.0 to have assessment be "the kids simply do activities in class and she observed".

What's more, I have not seen any evidence that MCPS is using the 2.0 grading system to reduce resources for differentiation, reduce resources for special needs kids, and not deal with kids that are smart but not super gifted. If you have evidence, could you please provide it?

And finally, MCPS is not reporting school performance based on percent of Ps/Is/Ns, as far as I know -- just as MCPS never reported school performance based on percent of letter grades, pre-2.0.

If your only experience with MCPS is with 2.0, then I can understand your belief, but I don't think it's an accurate assessment. In general, I think, things are pretty much the same. 2.0 hasn't made good teachers bad, or bad teachers good.

A lot (not all!) of the complaining of 2.0 is people complaining about change. In 10-15 years, when MCPS adopts a new curriculum, people will complain about the new curriculum, and yearn for the good old days of 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of moving to MoCo for the schools and to improve our commutes (we are currently in NOVA and it is not working).

If you were moving to MCPS and had it to do again, how would go about selecting your school/neighborhood? More focus on the comments on DCUM? More focus on Greatschools? Visits? (do people do that?)

We have a 4 year old and a baby and I feel enormous pressure to get this decision right. Also, we are pretty limited, financially, for the area.

I would not rely on DCUM. Go visit the school. [b]Talk to parents whose kids are at the school.[/b] Look at the neighborhood where the school is located.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't rely on greatschools.org either, it seems to attract only people on the extremes.

[Anonymous]

Have you spoken with the principal and teachers involved? Seems like an anon board is a strange place to lash out. That said, not all kids are suited to public, and maybe yours are better off in a different setting. Not everyone I know is happy with MCPS all of the time, but it's strong on so many levels, especially parent-teacher communication. And it's the best we have in this area. Sorry your kids are struggling, hope you find a situation that works for you.

[Anonymous]

Best to speak with someone who has (a) young children in the school (as the rollout started in earlier grades and is proliferating), and (b) young children a couple years apart where one was in the previous curriculum and one is now in 2.0.

[Anonymous]

One of DC's friends is moving to VA and 2 are going to private this summer because of 2.0. I wonder if MCPS understands how much damage they are doing. Its such a shame.

The whole attitude of "you'd think the report card was informative if you researched standards based grading" is just plain stupid and offensive. Parents don't find it informative. You failed. Suck it up, deal with it, and fix it.

The second attitude of the parents who remember when the system used to be better will eventually age out of the system so its just resistant to change is just as stupid and offensive.

I personally feel guilty that my older child is getting a better education than my younger child. Ironically, one of the reasons we opted to move and not go private was so both kids would have a good and equal education rather than one getting into a better private school than the other one. We certainly got screwed.

MCPS can also kiss good bye many future votes in favor for more money. I'm a Dem and have always supported tax increases for schools but we will never cast any votes that throw more resources down the drain in this system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are in the process of moving to MoCo for the schools and to improve our commutes (we are currently in NOVA and it is not working).

If you were moving to MCPS and had it to do again, how would go about selecting your school/neighborhood? More focus on the comments on DCUM? More focus on Greatschools? Visits? (do people do that?)

We have a 4 year old and a baby and I feel enormous pressure to get this decision right. Also, we are pretty limited, financially, for the area.

I would not rely on DCUM. Go visit the school. [b]Talk to parents whose kids are at the school.[/b] Look at the neighborhood where the school is located.

NP here- this may be a dumb question, but is it appropriate to visit a school BEFORE you even have kids?? We hope to start a family soon but are looking to buy a house now. We don't want to have to move again before the unborn reach school age, so finding a neighborhood with a good ES is important (and maybe MS, HS is too far out to think about). I've looked through all the stats on the ESs in our search radius but visiting now seems premature, don't you think? We have talked to the occasional neighbor when out hunting, which was helpful and I expect we'll do that again. But beyond that, we don't know a lot of parents with kids in school yet. So I feel a bit lost. If we were to visit schools, what should we even be looking for??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The second attitude of the parents who remember when the system used to be better will eventually age out of the system so its just resistant to change is just as stupid and offensive.

I am the PP at 13:22. And that is not at all what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that a lot of the complaining about 2.0 is because it is a change. Full stop. People do not like change and will complain about change -- even a change for the better.

And I will match your anecdote about three children are getting pulled out from MCPS by saying that I can count the number of parents I have heard in real life complaining about 2.0 on the fingers of one hand, with several fingers left over.

I'm also appalled by your idea that you will not support better funding for the 150,000 students in MCPS because you don't like 2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you spoken with the principal and teachers involved? Seems like an anon board is a strange place to lash out. That said, not all kids are suited to public, and maybe yours are better off in a different setting. Not everyone I know is happy with MCPS all of the time, but it's strong on so many levels, especially parent-teacher communication. And it's the best we have in this area. Sorry your kids are struggling, hope you find a situation that works for you.

My school is TERRIBLE at parent/teacher communication.

[Anonymous]

The whole bloated government school low level mediocrity vomit-fest is gonna implode in the next financial meltdown. The whole thing is gonna get reformed by technology advances that can do a better job than overweight union members in stretchpants.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP at 13:22. And that is not at all what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that a lot of the complaining about 2.0 is because it is a change. Full stop. People do not like change and will complain about change -- even a change for the better.

Its highly likely that you work for MCPS. If so, you need to get your head out of the sand. How many articles in the Post, angry letters from parents, on-line petitions, PTA resolutions, and posts across social media to realize that you have a significant problem on your hand. You've basically infuriated the political base from which you get support because you are arrogant bureaucrats who think you are accountable to no one. Enjoy watching that support go out the window and your budget slashed.

You have implemented change seriously degrades the educational system. You screwed up royally and the longer you cling to this mess the more difficult it will become to ever correct it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am the PP at 13:22. And that is not at all what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that a lot of the complaining about 2.0 is because it is a change. Full stop. People do not like change and will complain about change -- even a change for the better.

Its highly likely that you work for MCPS. If so, you need to get your head out of the sand. How many articles in the Post, angry letters from parents, on-line petitions, PTA resolutions, and posts across social media to realize that you have a significant problem on your hand. You've basically infuriated the political base from which you get support because you are arrogant bureaucrats who think you are accountable to no one. Enjoy watching that support go out the window and your budget slashed.

You have implemented change seriously degrades the educational system. You screwed up royally and the longer you cling to this mess the more difficult it will become to ever correct it.

I do not work for MCPS.

Meanwhile, do you work as a journalist? It's highly unlikely. Otherwise you would know that what the articles in the Post, etc., etc. show is that there are parents who are unhappy. What they do NOT show is that all -- or even the majority -- of parents are unhappy.

And if you find it inconceivable that a person who does not work for MCPS could be happy with Curriculum 2.0, I recommend that you get out more.

[Anonymous]

2.0 is fine in theory. Not quite sure they've adequately trained staff to implement it.