I feel like MCPS is turning my DC into a robot...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kindergartener and an older kid in Mcps and have been thrilled with 4 out of 5 teachers. The other one wasnt terrible, just not stellar. The difference between the okay teachers and the great ones are that the great ones are able to keep tabs on which kids need what and tailor accordingly. I am astounded at how well the kindergarten teachers we have do this. Do I wish there was less testing? Yes, but so do the teachers and principals. Are the report cards dumb? Yes, but the teachers are great about communicating actual strengths/challenges. I'm sure that you can get more from certain privates but until people stop complaIning about their taxes, it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Or the kids that don't give a hoot and ruin it for everyone else. My DD's middle school is full of kids that disrupt class, fail tests and think it is cool, skip classes, etc... It is amazing how many people in this world don't value a free education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kindergartener and an older kid in Mcps and have been thrilled with 4 out of 5 teachers. The other one wasnt terrible, just not stellar. The difference between the okay teachers and the great ones are that the great ones are able to keep tabs on which kids need what and tailor accordingly. I am astounded at how well the kindergarten teachers we have do this. Do I wish there was less testing? Yes, but so do the teachers and principals. Are the report cards dumb? Yes, but the teachers are great about communicating actual strengths/challenges. I'm sure that you can get more from certain privates but until people stop complaIning about their taxes, it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Or the kids that don't give a hoot and ruin it for everyone else. My DD's middle school is full of kids that disrupt class, fail tests and think it is cool, skip classes, etc... It is amazing how many people in this world don't value a free education.

Yes, but that's not unique to MCPS.

[Anonymous]

MCPS reminds me of the daycare dilemma. I decided to work because I make a very good salary and have job flexibility. Daycare wasn't bad but it wasn't the same as if I had stayed at home with the kids or hired an incredibly expensive nanny with a master's degree. I would never argue that daycare was as good or the same as those options but the kids were fine.

MCPS is no different. Its not bad but its not good either. It just is what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kindergartener and an older kid in Mcps and have been thrilled with 4 out of 5 teachers. The other one wasnt terrible, just not stellar. The difference between the okay teachers and the great ones are that the great ones are able to keep tabs on which kids need what and tailor accordingly. I am astounded at how well the kindergarten teachers we have do this. Do I wish there was less testing? Yes, but so do the teachers and principals. Are the report cards dumb? Yes, but the teachers are great about communicating actual strengths/challenges. I'm sure that you can get more from certain privates but until people stop complaIning about their taxes, it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Or the kids that don't give a hoot and ruin it for everyone else. My DD's middle school is full of kids that disrupt class, fail tests and think it is cool, skip classes, etc... It is amazing how many people in this world don't value a free education.

I consider this part of my daughter's education. I mean this sincerely. Education isn't just book-learning.

[Anonymous]

it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Yes, but that's not unique to MCPS.

It also not universal. In school systems that are not as large, a public school can raise the bar. There are more financial resources available to the school. Kids in higher income, higher educated smaller communities create a study body similar to the private schools. Teachers can teach more challenging work and it isn't disallowed because the local school system is following a prescribed county wide curriculum designed for a different demographic. You see this more in some New England areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Yes, but that's not unique to MCPS.

It also not universal. In school systems that are not as large, a public school can raise the bar. There are more financial resources available to the school. Kids in higher income, higher educated smaller communities create a study body similar to the private schools. Teachers can teach more challenging work and it isn't disallowed because the local school system is following a prescribed county wide curriculum designed for a different demographic. You see this more in some New England areas.

This is actually not a good thing for society, though I agree that it's very nice for the affluent people who are able to send their children to "public" school systems that exclude poor children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a kindergartener and an older kid in Mcps and have been thrilled with 4 out of 5 teachers. The other one wasnt terrible, just not stellar. The difference between the okay teachers and the great ones are that the great ones are able to keep tabs on which kids need what and tailor accordingly. I am astounded at how well the kindergarten teachers we have do this. Do I wish there was less testing? Yes, but so do the teachers and principals. Are the report cards dumb? Yes, but the teachers are great about communicating actual strengths/challenges. I'm sure that you can get more from certain privates but until people stop complaIning about their taxes, it's really unfair to expect MCPS to give the same customized experience as a school that costs 20k to 40k a year and is not required to educate the more challenged children.

Or the kids that don't give a hoot and ruin it for everyone else. My DD's middle school is full of kids that disrupt class, fail tests and think it is cool, skip classes, etc... It is amazing how many people in this world don't value a free education.

I consider this part of my daughter's education. I mean this sincerely. Education isn't just book-learning.

Good for you, I don't. Disrupting classes so much that a teacher can not teach is not an education. You may be in some lily white W school but this is serious in my school. There are threats, disobedience, walking in late, cell phones going off, no shows, laughing/talking etc... If you child is trying to get an education while 50% in the class do not and the teacher's hands are so tied - there is not much learning going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am a parent of a kindergartener who is doing very well and is at the top the class but feel like there's something missing in the school day. I felt like there was a lot of joy and wonder in DC's day in preschool but that MCPS is all about discipline, rules and doing things the "right" way.
Does anyone else feel the same way?
Are there any private schools in the area with a more creative approach to early elementary and that are affordable?

Because they are. If you get a school district and county so big and trying to teach to same standardized test, that is what you get. Robotic like teaching with robotic-style learning. MCPS is not what they used to be (or was it ever?)

[Anonymous]

OP - it will get worse. As classes continue to get larger, there's no other way for teachers to keep things under control. This is one of the reasons why people keep saying MCPS is going down...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I consider this part of my daughter's education. I mean this sincerely. Education isn't just book-learning.

Good for you, I don't. Disrupting classes so much that a teacher can not teach is not an education. You may be in some lily white W school but this is serious in my school. There are threats, disobedience, walking in late, cell phones going off, no shows, laughing/talking etc... If you child is trying to get an education while 50% in the class do not and the teacher's hands are so tied - there is not much learning going on.

No, I am not in a lily-white W school. There is a balance, of course, and I wouldn't be happy if there were so many disruptive kids causing so much disruption that nothing else could go on. But I also wouldn't be happy if my daughter learned from school that everybody is affluent, academically-oriented, and well-behaved -- because that's not the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - it will get worse. As classes continue to get larger, there's no other way for teachers to keep things under control. This is one of the reasons why people keep saying MCPS is going down...

Where do you get the idea that classes used to be smaller and "continue to get larger"?

[Anonymous]

It also not universal. In school systems that are not as large, a public school can raise the bar. There are more financial resources available to the school. Kids in higher income, higher educated smaller communities create a study body similar to the private schools. Teachers can teach more challenging work and it isn't disallowed because the local school system is following a prescribed county wide curriculum designed for a different demographic. You see this more in some New England areas.

This is actually not a good thing for society, though I agree that it's very nice for the affluent people who are able to send their children to "public" school systems that exclude poor children.

Of course. However, its hard to argue that a smaller school system in an affluent area should lower its standards when it doesn't need to because children elsewhere don't have the same access.

In big school systems, the wealthier areas subsidize the poorer areas. Class sizes are much better in poorer areas than wealthier areas because resources are not allocated equally. MCPS takes it further than most systems in disallowing parents from fundraising to replace the lost teachers in their areas. DC is a good example where the vaulted JLKM ES schools only receive half the funding and staff allocation of the poorer schools. DC allows parents to fundraise to replace those staff so you still see 2 teachers in a room of 24 Kindergarteners rather than 1 teacher for 24 Kindergartens in MCPS.

This one really bugs me. I'm OK with more central resources going away from the wealthier schools and into the poor schools. I don't think its ethical though that MCPS disallows parents from fundraising to achieve equal ratios. They could have a rule that parents can't fundraise to provide resources that exceed a Title 1 school but there is something wrong with requiring that wealthier schools have larger classes despite other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - it will get worse. As classes continue to get larger, there's no other way for teachers to keep things under control. This is one of the reasons why people keep saying MCPS is going down...

Where do you get the idea that classes used to be smaller and "continue to get larger"?

Personal experience. Have had kids in MCPS system for 16 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Of course. However, its hard to argue that a smaller school system in an affluent area should lower its standards when it doesn't need to because children elsewhere don't have the same access.

In big school systems, the wealthier areas subsidize the poorer areas. Class sizes are much better in poorer areas than wealthier areas because resources are not allocated equally. MCPS takes it further than most systems in disallowing parents from fundraising to replace the lost teachers in their areas. DC is a good example where the vaulted JLKM ES schools only receive half the funding and staff allocation of the poorer schools. DC allows parents to fundraise to replace those staff so you still see 2 teachers in a room of 24 Kindergarteners rather than 1 teacher for 24 Kindergartens in MCPS.

This one really bugs me. I'm OK with more central resources going away from the wealthier schools and into the poor schools. I don't think its ethical though that MCPS disallows parents from fundraising to achieve equal ratios. They could have a rule that parents can't fundraise to provide resources that exceed a Title 1 school but there is something wrong with requiring that wealthier schools have larger classes despite other options.

How do you know that most systems allow parents to fundraise for additional teachers? This is not a challenge; it's a real question.

Also, I don't think it's accurate to say that MCPS requires schools with lots of rich kids to have larger classes. Rather, MCPS enables schools with lots of poor kids to have smaller classes.

[Anonymous]

Schools always overcrowd and decline when an area undergoes densification - er, I mean Smart Growth.