So disappointed in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one on the thread has disputed that standards and levels have dropped. You'd have to be blind not to see this.

I dispute it. I don't see it. And I'm not blind.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, its beyond disappointing, its embarrassing IMO. I have no idea why in a time period where global competitiveness is increasing and US educational performance is not keeping up, that MCPS would think it was a good idea to lower the benchmarks and dumb down the curriculum. The only conclusion is that the MCPS staff responsible for this were not qualified to create a new curriculum and had no idea what the outcome would be and now are simply defensive about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, its beyond disappointing, its embarrassing IMO. I have no idea why in a time period where global competitiveness is increasing and US educational performance is not keeping up, that MCPS would think it was a good idea to lower the benchmarks and dumb down the curriculum. The only conclusion is that the MCPS staff responsible for this were not qualified to create a new curriculum and had no idea what the outcome would be and now are simply defensive about it.

The only conclusion? An alternative conclusion is that MCPS believes (with justification, in my opinion) that benchmarks have not been lowered, and the curriculum has not been "dumbed down".

[Anonymous]

I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

Your child thinks that school is unimportant, and it's the fault of MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

Your child thinks that school is unimportant, and it's the fault of MCPS?

Not the PP, but if the school never teaches anything new, then going to school will start to feel unimportant, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

Do you visit your school? Do you volunteer? Do you interact with your child's teacher, and when you do do you inform him or her that the 7 hours a day they put in with your child are in fact worse for your child than watching preschool television? Or are you just exaggerating for effect in the spirit of an adolescent mean girl?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

Your child thinks that school is unimportant, and it's the fault of MCPS?

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure MCPS staff believe that they are utterly brilliant. They aren't.

I'm most disappointed that my child thinks school is unimportant. I don't think he needs to be pushed or for things to be super challenging but school needs to build an interest in learning. If kids don't learn new things, they don't learn to enjoy learning. There is nothing to motivate them or even just keep their attention.

I could hire a sitter and plop him in front of a TV showing preschool level lessons and hand him some worksheets for the next few years. Sadly, this would probably be better than MCPS now because at least the sitter would let him play outside more than 15- 20 minutes a day.

Your child thinks that school is unimportant, and it's the fault of MCPS?

Not the PP, but if the school never teaches anything new, then going to school will start to feel unimportant, no?

Does the school never teaching anything new or is your kid just not learning anything new? Big difference. All the kids I know in MCPS are being taught new things as well as going over things they have already learned. Because, part of learning is going back over what you have learned -- you don't just learn something and then on to the next thing. But, hey maybe your kid has an eidetic memory.

[Anonymous]

Not the PP, but if the school never teaches anything new, then going to school will start to feel unimportant, no?

This, +100.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not the PP, but if the school never teaches anything new, then going to school will start to feel unimportant, no?

This, +100.

Which school does your child attend, where they never teach anything new? My child is learning lots of new stuff at her school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These threads are always the same. My child is not doing advanced work like I give him to do at home. His teacher gave the class one assignment that had material he had covered before (and likely needed a refresher on). How dare he not be constantly stimulated with new material!

This is utterly ridiculous. Even if your child had seen material before, so what? Is he so world weary he can't sit still for an hour, or help peers, or use a refresher? Are you so cynical that you believe the school system is FAILING your child because new material at his individual level is not constantly introduced? Get over yourselves.

I disagree with your characterization of some of the concerns repeatedly voiced on this forum. I have a child who has attended a HGC and a magnet middle school. He does have to practice the same skills over and over again - note taking, writing well crafted responses to questions, comprehension, writing conventions (grammar and so on). He does this day in and day out but it is never boring because the assignments are interesting and challenging. I do believe that children have to review material repeatedly and constantly practice key skills in order to learn them properly but this can be done in a stimulating manner. I don't recall too many of these posts from parents with children in HGCs or the magnets, its the parents in the regular MCPS schools that generally feel dissatisfied. Also, although I think it is good for children to help other students, this can be taken too far - it is is not a substitute for providing an appropriate education.

That's the point.

What's the point? Did you read the entire post or just the portion you highlighted? I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't understand your comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The high school teachers would tell you that all of your kids who are supposedly bored and ready for more challenge are really getting a better math basis than the ones who came before. They went faster and certainly had more challenge but when they got to upper math they were not always so strong. Have you read the recent posts about kids needing to repeat algebra and geometry when they switched to private? I know many will probably chime in to say that their child got all A's in higher math..but an MCPS A isn't always that outstanding.

don't be so sure that was because the child didn't know the concepts....because many privates don't allow acceleration, leading kids to have to repeat just to fit into the private math track

This simply is not true at the BIG 3. They have accelerated math tracks for those who are ready. The difference is the level of preparation they require before entering Algebra 2. My kid had been in a special program in MCPS and had little or no gap in science, English or social sciences. But he repeated in math because he did not demonstrate a thorough understanding of the concepts behind the skills he learned at MCPS. This difference may not be evident if the kid does well on standardized tests. But he now feels like has a broader, deeper understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The high school teachers would tell you that all of your kids who are supposedly bored and ready for more challenge are really getting a better math basis than the ones who came before. They went faster and certainly had more challenge but when they got to upper math they were not always so strong. Have you read the recent posts about kids needing to repeat algebra and geometry when they switched to private? I know many will probably chime in to say that their child got all A's in higher math..but an MCPS A isn't always that outstanding.

don't be so sure that was because the child didn't know the concepts....because many privates don't allow acceleration, leading kids to have to repeat just to fit into the private math track

This simply is not true at the BIG 3. They have accelerated math tracks for those who are ready. The difference is the level of preparation they require before entering Algebra 2. My kid had been in a special program in MCPS and had little or no gap in science, English or social sciences. But he repeated in math because he did not demonstrate a thorough understanding of the concepts behind the skills he learned at MCPS. This difference may not be evident if the kid does well on standardized tests. But he now feels like has a broader, deeper understanding.

+1 This is why I am doing Math review at home this summer for my rising 7th grader who scored between 96 -100% on every IM summative assessments. I've done this every summer for the last few years and I am starting to resent it. I wish they did a better job with Math instruction in school. Maybe C2.0 will be better but that remains to be seen.

[Anonymous]

It is disappointing that they have cut out math acceleration for the handful of kids that need it. My child is extremely good at math. I won't post scores here but his MAP-M scores are 99% level for 2 or 3 grades up. He will likely not learn much in compacted math. We are semi-OK with this, but I do often wonder why we are holding back these bright math kids who could potentially do more.