How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A point he makes well is that spending more money does not work, that is simply fact. He also points out that no matter what you do, you will not be able to eliminate differences in student performance. Some students are simply better at school than others. What you want to eliminate is the racial gap but that is not an easy thing to do and will require non-academic solutions. I'm not totally on board with his idea of what those are but I think his premise is correct.

Sadly that gap exists worldwide.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Cristo Rey is made up of motivated low income kids. We had a few kids from my Title 1 school go to one of their schools. They all dropped out. They weren’t used to the academic demands and the strict rules.

But imagine if mcps introduced rigorous academics along with setting expectations and instilling personal responsibility from the get go?

^^^
That’s catholic school. Guess what? It works!

MCPS does have rigorous academics. You just have to make some effort and show aptitude. My kids were in CES+magnets for all of their school years. It worked out great even. They both ended up at Ivies and are doing well.

How long ago? Now there is zero homework, no reading of whole novels, no real grammar, spelling, writing instruction. It’s just sad this race to the bottom.

What exactly are they doing in the classroom all day?

Imagine if we dropped off 25 kids to your home today and then said we hope you can get them all to a certain level this year and here’s and the topics you need to cover at least once. Make sure they eat, go to the bathroom, have recess, don’t get hurt, and also have fun. Note you must spend 80% of your day in this one room. Some parents will pickup, some kids will need to get in the bus to go home and others will be walking home. Also parents wants feedback. Here’s a little info about your group: some can’t spell their name, have never been helped to hold a pencil or crayon correctly, can’t zip up their own clothes, don’t know the alphabet. Some won’t learn to tie their shoe strings until 4th grade, many won’t get training wheels off their bike until upper ES (if they even learn to ride a bike). Some have learning disabilities and some know little English.

So you're making the case for tracking?

NP. Yes. Most of the people who oppose it haven't been in a classroom in a long time.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Cristo Rey is made up of motivated low income kids. We had a few kids from my Title 1 school go to one of their schools. They all dropped out. They weren’t used to the academic demands and the strict rules.

But imagine if mcps introduced rigorous academics along with setting expectations and instilling personal responsibility from the get go?

^^^
That’s catholic school. Guess what? It works!

MCPS does have rigorous academics. You just have to make some effort and show aptitude. My kids were in CES+magnets for all of their school years. It worked out great even. They both ended up at Ivies and are doing well.

Now try doing this in high school! So many of my students do not speak English, or speak it well. Some are 16 and have a couple years of schooling. We cannot put a 16 year old in 2nd grade.


How long ago? Now there is zero homework, no reading of whole novels, no real grammar, spelling, writing instruction. It’s just sad this race to the bottom.

What exactly are they doing in the classroom all day?

Imagine if we dropped off 25 kids to your home today and then said we hope you can get them all to a certain level this year and here’s and the topics you need to cover at least once. Make sure they eat, go to the bathroom, have recess, don’t get hurt, and also have fun. Note you must spend 80% of your day in this one room. Some parents will pickup, some kids will need to get in the bus to go home and others will be walking home. Also parents wants feedback. Here’s a little info about your group: some can’t spell their name, have never been helped to hold a pencil or crayon correctly, can’t zip up their own clothes, don’t know the alphabet. Some won’t learn to tie their shoe strings until 4th grade, many won’t get training wheels off their bike until upper ES (if they even learn to ride a bike). Some have learning disabilities and some know little English.

Now try doing this in high school! So many of my students do not speak English, or speak it well. Some are 16 and have a couple years of schooling. We cannot put a 16 year old in 2nd grade. None have read a book cover to cover.

I also voted out BOE members and supported Trump, and hope the DoE is demolished.

And then what happens when DoE is closed?

They are hoping schools stop educating these kids.

Just stop... the DOE does nothing but issue regulations that make local education more difficult. Arguing for school choice does not equal not educating children. But then again, 16 year olds who speak no English and have never read a book should be in a special setting, not in regular high school classes. And yes, emphasis on basic skills and vocational skills because those kids are not going to catch up and attend college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They need more able bodied paras or co-teachers

Mcps doesn't take paraeducation seriously, in the least. If they did, they wouldn't allow for it to be the stepping stone to coaching jobs. How many coaches are there who are only paraeducators because mcps demands they be a teacher in order to coach? None of them care about helping students learn. They need to weed them out and take paraeducation seriously.

[Anonymous]

The parents of these kids need to be involved and invested in their child’s education.

Parents need to care. They need to tell their kids how important education is and how it will Improve the quality of their life.

It’s not about how much money is spent per child. Obviously, that is not working now. Title 1 schools spend more per child than W schools and graduation rates are much lowers.

Families need to be invested in education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The parents of these kids need to be involved and invested in their child’s education.

Parents need to care. They need to tell their kids how important education is and how it will Improve the quality of their life.

It’s not about how much money is spent per child. Obviously, that is not working now. Title 1 schools spend more per child than W schools and graduation rates are much lowers.

Families need to be invested in education.

They are morally. But some of them can't because they just can't physically, nor time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cristo Rey is made up of motivated low income kids. We had a few kids from my Title 1 school go to one of their schools. They all dropped out. They weren’t used to the academic demands and the strict rules.

But imagine if mcps introduced rigorous academics along with setting expectations and instilling personal responsibility from the get go?

^^^
That’s catholic school. Guess what? It works!

MCPS does have rigorous academics. You just have to make some effort and show aptitude. My kids were in CES+magnets for all of their school years. It worked out great even. They both ended up at Ivies and are doing well.

Now try doing this in high school! So many of my students do not speak English, or speak it well. Some are 16 and have a couple years of schooling. We cannot put a 16 year old in 2nd grade.


How long ago? Now there is zero homework, no reading of whole novels, no real grammar, spelling, writing instruction. It’s just sad this race to the bottom.

What exactly are they doing in the classroom all day?

Imagine if we dropped off 25 kids to your home today and then said we hope you can get them all to a certain level this year and here’s and the topics you need to cover at least once. Make sure they eat, go to the bathroom, have recess, don’t get hurt, and also have fun. Note you must spend 80% of your day in this one room. Some parents will pickup, some kids will need to get in the bus to go home and others will be walking home. Also parents wants feedback. Here’s a little info about your group: some can’t spell their name, have never been helped to hold a pencil or crayon correctly, can’t zip up their own clothes, don’t know the alphabet. Some won’t learn to tie their shoe strings until 4th grade, many won’t get training wheels off their bike until upper ES (if they even learn to ride a bike). Some have learning disabilities and some know little English.

Now try doing this in high school! So many of my students do not speak English, or speak it well. Some are 16 and have a couple years of schooling. We cannot put a 16 year old in 2nd grade. None have read a book cover to cover.

I also voted out BOE members and supported Trump, and hope the DoE is demolished.

And then what happens when DoE is closed?

Do you think the DoE positively affects MCPS at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Universal pre-k for both 3 and 4-year-olds. It’s the only thing. We have to get them in younger. We are getting kindergarteners who don’t know colors, don’t know their names, can’t use the bathroom, can barely talk in their native language. For whatever reason, parents are just not preparing them. We cannot make up that deficit starting at age 5.

This is the problem with progressives. You can't fix the problem if you can't even say what the problem is and progressives pretend we don't know. We all know what the problem is. Some cultures value education more than others. That's it. That's the reason.

[Anonymous]

Universal preschool
1:1 tutoring with same tutor so relationship can develop

Parental involvement almost everyday.
Yes, this is key. No amount of money or tutoring can ever be as good as this. Yes, this requires extra sacrifice from parents. Even parents where both work more than full time can find time to support kids academically. And start teaching them early - like from birth. That means, I'm not going out with friends when kids are home, I'm not going to get salon services regularly (or ever beyond occasional haircut), I'm not shopping much. I involve kids in daily life - we cook together and calculate fractions while cooking for example or do arithmetic. When we drive, we talk about topics. My goal is to teach them everything I know so they can do better than me. It takes constant involvement and constant creativity to keep teaching and being there when they are home and you're not working. period.

[Anonymous]

Tutoring from k-16!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents of these kids need to be involved and invested in their child’s education.

Parents need to care. They need to tell their kids how important education is and how it will Improve the quality of their life.

It’s not about how much money is spent per child. Obviously, that is not working now. Title 1 schools spend more per child than W schools and graduation rates are much lowers.

Families need to be invested in education.

They are morally. But some of them can't because they just can't physically, nor time.

This is an excuse and why some succeed over others. If education is important to you as a parent, you will find a way to instill that value in your child and household.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents of these kids need to be involved and invested in their child’s education.

Parents need to care. They need to tell their kids how important education is and how it will Improve the quality of their life.

It’s not about how much money is spent per child. Obviously, that is not working now. Title 1 schools spend more per child than W schools and graduation rates are much lowers.

Families need to be invested in education.

They are morally. But some of them can't because they just can't physically, nor time.

Romanticization of the poor. You obviously have never spent a lot of time with them.

[Anonymous]

More volunteers but even that is not enough

[Anonymous]

Could these students attending a focus school help them? Smaller class size, more teacher attention?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could these students attending a focus school help them? Smaller class size, more teacher attention?

Most of them do attend focus schools but the ones who need the most help even in those schools are often ignored.