Been 1.5 years. How much longer without a superintendent?

[Anonymous]

I actually like the acting superintendent. Please do not get people from outside who do not have a clue of what is needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Larry Bowers has really improved the PR machine at MCPS. Has anyone else noticed how snazzy the new communications have been? Maybe he will stay longer?

Was just saying this to DH today.

He put emails in a template with clip art. Is that really impressive?

My guess is that no one wants to take on a school board whose primary focus and criteria for success is closing the achievement gap in a huge county with an ever increasing uneducated immigrant population. It's an impossible metric.

Agreed. It is driving the standards lower and lower. None of these efforts do anything to close the achievement gap. In fact, it is quite the contrary. We are softly encouraged to "think of mitigating circumstances" and "consider the challenges" when preparing grades and recommending minority students for classes. This is code for "make sure they all pass".

My choices as a teacher in this culture are to have two different sets of criteria or to dumb down the curriculum. I'm trying to hold onto the former because it serves the non-ESOL, non-minority and achieving minority kids the best, but I will reach a critical mass soon and will need to dumb it down. The first step will be next year when we no longer have exams. There is no possibility of having a comprehensive "project" that assesses all of the skills a student learns in a course. But it will serve to drive the academic wedge even deeper between high-SES schools and low-SES schools.

Your pedagogical skill set and ability to be creative both seem limited. Maybe you could better serve MCPS as an administrator rather than a classroom teacher.

Your use of terms is impressive. Could you please give very specific examples that fit under pedagogical skill set? Apparently your degree is in education, yes?

specifics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Exactly. The only way to stop the achievement gap is to deport illegal aliens. All that $$ from increasing ESOL yearly could go to reading/math specialists

1. MCPS has zero control over US immigration policy.
2. ESOL is federal law.
3. The majority of kids in ESOL are US citizens.

And the majority of them live in the DCC and NEC and Gaithersburg areas, which house the low performing schools, thus creating a larger gap between the haves and have nots.

Let's push PC off the table, people. How can a system address the needs of these schools sot that all kids can learn? b/c something ain't working

[Anonymous]

The higher SES schools will continue to keep the higher standards and push the instruction towards getting kids into higher-level classes. The lower SES schools will have a lighter curriculum that "meets" the standards so those kids can pass. All the kids get a coveted MCPS diploma, but which one is of high quality? It won't matter because no one will know!

Except when the can is kicked down the road and look at college success. Then the kids with the same GPAs but from 2 different MCPS schools plays out in a shocking disparity that mirrors the same ol' achievement gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The higher SES schools will continue to keep the higher standards and push the instruction towards getting kids into higher-level classes. The lower SES schools will have a lighter curriculum that "meets" the standards so those kids can pass. All the kids get a coveted MCPS diploma, but which one is of high quality? It won't matter because no one will know!

Except when the can is kicked down the road and look at college success. Then the kids with the same GPAs but from 2 different MCPS schools plays out in a shocking disparity that mirrors the same ol' achievement gap.

A coveted MCPS diploma? I'm very happy with MCPS, but I don't think I've ever met somebody who covets an MCPS diploma.

Also, if you want to know what the kids did in high school (whether at a "higher SES" school or at a "lower SES" school -- not that schools actually have a socioeconomic status), maybe consider looking at their transcripts.

[Anonymous]

They take the same sat and ap exams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They take the same sat and ap exams

And you can look at the data yourself.