Does anyone like Curriculum 2.0?

[Anonymous]

I went to a public school that was as crappy as MCPS. The difference was that back then not only did they give grades they also would hold kids back who failed. The curriculum was pretty easy but always getting 10/10 or 100/100 gave me a significant amount of confidence in my own abilities. I switched to private school for high school. It was a shock at first that everything wasn't easy. It was very rigorous and not enough to just be smart. My confidence in myself helped me adept to working harder to earn the top grades. In college, it was a breeze while my friends at the same college from public school really struggled for the first year or two. The private school preparation gave me an edge in being able to complete a double major, take on a job to help pay for my education and have time for internships. This made a difference with job hunting after graduation.My public school friends who were just struggling with the academics because they hadn't been prepared were disadvantaged.

If my early public school had only given Ps I don't think I would have developed the same self confidence in my abilities. If my private school hadn't been rigorous I would not have been able to do the things in college that led to my career. These things do make a difference and frankly MCPS has created the worse of both worlds...crappy curriculum, no rigor, no reward for doing well, and no confidence building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a public school that was as crappy as MCPS.

People who believe that MCPS is a crappy school system live in a bubble. Do you have any idea what it's like in public schools in the rest of the country?

[Anonymous]

MCPS is a crappy school system now. Too many people spent beyond their means to buy a house thinking they were scoring a great school system for free. They didn't and its very unfortunate for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I agree with you that, I don't want my kid to learn those points you made, such as "don't work just for grades etc." In fact that is what I keep telling my child. But this does not invalidate my earlier point. Why can't we just get a narrative report from the teacher without any grades, instead of a highly inconsistent and commentless grading method that sends a very wrong message to young children. Why do I have to keep reminding my child that grades are not important, this grading method is unfair, meaningless etc. (Of course I don't say that to my child, but I try to essentially give her that message.) Please answer this question. Don't diverge into other arguments which is not my point.

I agree with this 100%. Its awful that basically have to tell my child to ignore grades, grades are meaningless, and not fair. IMO grades serve three purposes

a.) to inform parents of a child's progress and identify areas of weakness strength so that the parent can help the child achieve what they are capable of doing
b.) provide a granular enough structure to identify learning disabilities early on so that children can get the assistance that they deserve
c.) to teach kids that achievement counts, if you are not naturally one of the super smart kids you can learn and even achieve the highest grade if you work hard

IMO "c" is a ver empowering thing for a child to learn. Every kid will hit a time at some point where something doesn't come easy and they need to spend extra effort to understand and practice to master a skill. For a kid who isn't naturally good at math to study and get the highest grade sends a powerful message to that kid. This is the type of kid that does far batter in higher education and industry later on.

As parents, we see a report card that lays out all the various areas of learning under the major subjects, it also lays out the various areas of metacognition -- to show you HOW your child processes and HOW your child is learning.
What fails to be informative about this???? WHAT?
Grading each of these areas gives me, the parent, much more detailed information than a number grade alone. These grading symbols coupled with DETAILED information given by the teacher in notes on classwork, notes on homework, emails, and conferences gives the parent a rather clear picture of what and how your child is learning. What more do you want? I'm sorry but knowing simply that my child got a "B"/85% in a subject gives me much LESS information. As for goal setting, I'm sorry but that is a very lame reason to not like this system. We teach our kid that the goal is that DC is learning and is able to share the information that he/she is learning. We celebrate when DC learns something new, does a terrific project, is excited about something we did in school. Our kid knows that the goal is the ACTUAL LEARNING, not the symbol that may or may not provide information as to what your kid is, you know, ACTUALLY LEARNING!
When people start going on about that nonsense, I usually think that the same person in an office somewhere promoting the idiot who went to Harvard, but couldn't find tell their behind from a paperbag. But their resume says they went to an IVY even though their work product says diddly squat. Meantime the persons doing all the real work get no credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a public school that was as crappy as MCPS.

People who believe that MCPS is a crappy school system live in a bubble. Do you have any idea what it's like in public schools in the rest of the country?

I totally agree.

[Anonymous]

I love it! Enrollment is now at full capacity at my children's private school because people don't like it which helps keep tuition low.

[Anonymous]

Like it meaning 2.0 above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it! Enrollment is now at full capacity at my children's private school because people don't like it which helps keep tuition low.

And yet there's also record enrollment in MCPS. I wonder how that can be.

[Anonymous]

Enrollment is down at some schools. The private schools, even the parochial ones, are over a year ahead of MCPS now. This didn't used to be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enrollment is down at some schools. The private schools, even the parochial ones, are over a year ahead of MCPS now. This didn't used to be the case.

"Enrollment is down at some schools" -- specifics, please. Which schools is enrollment down at? How much down is it? And how do you know this?

"The private schools, even the parochial ones, are over a year ahead of MCPS now." -- specifics, please. Which private schools -- every single one? And what, specifically, are they over a year ahead of MCPS in? And how are you measuring "over a year ahead"? (In fact, here, I'll contribute a specific question: Under Curriculum 2.0, Algebra I in eighth grade is on-grade-level math. Which private schools have Algebra I in sixth grade as on-grade-level math?)

[Anonymous]

I was talking to a co-worker whose 10th grade parochial school son is taking Algebra II..he was bragging that he is 2 years ahead of some of his friends. I was really surprised to hear that!

[Anonymous]

Could the pro curriculum 2.0 poster (probably 1 person) please cite specific proof that this crap works? Details please and citations.

Please point to some proof of where this is succeeding..oh wait MSA test scores dropped for the first time ever after the 2.0 crop hit them....wait, wait the MSA test hasn't been dumbed down yet. Once we dumb down the test everything will be fine. Just wait.

Parents in the old system who feel their kids in 2.0 are getting a bad education. Well they are all wrong, disregard them. How about all those glowing parent testimonials. Oh wait there are none. There is a petition on change.org...darn... we're the ONLY school system with over 1K signatures against the new curriculum but everyone loves it really, really.

The first 2 years everyone in MCPS sang the same song that nothing was wrong, everyone loved it. There were letter writing campaigns by parents and the teacher's union went after MCPS for poor preparation, lack of training etc. MCPS can blow off parents but the union kicks their butt. Now, everyone pretends they never said the roll out was perfect and blames any problem on implementation.

Enough with the BS. This is a disaster. Starr will get fired with a few more years of declining test performance. The next regime will bury it at huge expense.

[Anonymous]

I am not the only poster on DCUM who likes Curriculum 2.0.

The MSA tests were designed to test learning under a different curriculum. Therefore they are not a good measure of learning under this curriculum. Maryland will switch to the new tests (PARCC) as soon as they have been developed. Every school district in Maryland has switched to curricula aligned to the Common Core. All of this has been discussed repeatedly on DCUM.

Some parents familiar with the old system believe that their kids are getting a bad education under 2.0. And some parents familiar with the old system believe that their kids are getting a good education under 2.0.

Yes, there were problems with implementation. This is not surprising. There are always problems with implementation of anything.

2.0 started under Weast, not Starr.

Anything else?

[Anonymous]

^^^What's more, what do you propose, besides "Get rid of 2.0!" Go back to the old curriculum? That's not happening. Develop a new curriculum? How long will that take? How much will it cost? What problems with implementation will it have? And how much will certain parents in MCPS complain about their children being used as guinea pigs for an untested curriculum?

[Anonymous]

I like 2.0