If you were the Superintendent what would you do?

[Anonymous]

I would -

1) Make sure that Math curriculum was made clearer, have textbooks that followed the curriculum, give a week-by-week breakup of what would be covered in class, make this available to parents, students and teachers before the school year (during summer) - a complete quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what was being taught.

2) Teach History chronologically.

what would you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would -

1) Make sure that Math curriculum was made clearer, have textbooks that followed the curriculum, give a week-by-week breakup of what would be covered in class, make this available to parents, students and teachers before the school year (during summer) - a complete quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what was being taught.

2) Teach History chronologically.

what would you do?

You mean each grade learns a different part of history? So the middle schoolers are learning ancient history?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would -

1) Make sure that Math curriculum was made clearer, have textbooks that followed the curriculum, give a week-by-week breakup of what would be covered in class, make this available to parents, students and teachers before the school year (during summer) - a complete quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what was being taught.

2) Teach History chronologically.

what would you do?

You mean each grade learns a different part of history? So the middle schoolers are learning ancient history?

I mean that they could learn about American revolution, ancient Egypt and Sparta - all in the same year - so a chronological sense of world history is lost.

[Anonymous]

Find another job....

[Anonymous]

Segregate kids based on subject mastery. They do this to some extent with reading, but not enough for math and science.

Zero tolerance bullying. Create a school for troublemakers with teachers that have experience dealing with them.

Test into kindergarten. Require kids that dont pass to attend pre-k for special instruction.

2 recess period

Healthier lunches

Supplemental packets for struggling or high achieving kids.

After school programs for at risk students needing more tutoring.

[Anonymous]

1. I would fire the entire curriculum office. In the real world, if you screw up this badly you don't get to stick around. It sends a message and more importantly you don't have a pile of HR problems trying to impede change and fixing the situation.

2. I would introduce honesty and transparency. I would be honest with the taxpayers, County government, and parents about the real problems in MCPS and set course to resolve them. MCPS has got to stop trying to lord their greatness over the rest of the state and hiding its problems. This is back firing in terms of political support and managing relationships with the state. It needs to stop.

3. I would stop measuring the wrong things and address fiefdom behaviors in local schools. I would prioritize raising the achievement of all students and stop the compaction and alienating the middle class. Its not a zero sum game.

4. I would re-instate math acceleration and implement rigorous testing. Any student could take the test. If you pass you get in whether you are purple or green.

5. I would include student and parent evaluations as part of the principal and teacher's evaluation. I would include meaningful questions on the survey.

6. I would go after poor performing teachers and fight the union to get them out of the classroom. I would allocate funds to reward teachers that demonstrate strong performance.

7. I would bring an outside evaluator for the budget and facilities planning. I would reduce costs in the central office by consolidation, outsourcing, and better planning. I would reinvest those savings into additional instructional staff for at risk students.

8. I would modernize on-line access giving students and parents access to materials, grades, and assignments. I would disallow schools from restricting access to assignments, tests, and quizzes.

9. I would partner with local universities, community groups and parents to develop a volunteer workforce to help at risk youth. I would structure the program to include academic and life skill support. I would engage local businesses to provide intern and job opportunities for youth. I would promote the accomplishments of at risk students.

10. I would stop tweeting and start working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Segregate kids based on subject mastery. They do this to some extent with reading, but not enough for math and science.

Zero tolerance bullying. Create a school for troublemakers with teachers that have experience dealing with them.

Test into kindergarten. Require kids that dont pass to attend pre-k for special instruction.

2 recess period

Healthier lunches

Supplemental packets for struggling or high achieving kids.

After school programs for at risk students needing more tutoring.

These all sound good to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find another job....

Yes. I wound find another job. You couldn't pay me enough to be superintendent of MCPS. Whatever I did, about anything, any time, anywhere, it would be wrong, and people would be screaming for my head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would -

1) Make sure that Math curriculum was made clearer, have textbooks that followed the curriculum, give a week-by-week breakup of what would be covered in class, make this available to parents, students and teachers before the school year (during summer) - a complete quarter-by-quarter breakdown of what was being taught.

2) Teach History chronologically.

what would you do?

You mean each grade learns a different part of history? So the middle schoolers are learning ancient history?

This is already the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Segregate kids based on subject mastery. They do this to some extent with reading, but not enough for math and science.

Zero tolerance bullying. Create a school for troublemakers with teachers that have experience dealing with them.

Test into kindergarten. Require kids that dont pass to attend pre-k for special instruction.

2 recess period

Healthier lunches

Supplemental packets for struggling or high achieving kids.

After school programs for at risk students needing more tutoring.

And what will be done with these worksheets you propose? Raise taxes to pay for grading assistants to score them and then recommend the next level of worksheets?

[Anonymous]

Run it like private school without religion.

[Anonymous]

I , honestly, would rely on my experience and training as an educator and ignore all suggestions from parents.

[Anonymous]

I , honestly, would rely on my experience and training as an educator and ignore all suggestions from parents.

Don't forget about tweeting about your own greatness and building a circles of people that tell you what you want to hear!

[Anonymous]

I would fire the dead weight and dysfunctional core in the division of long range planning. The capacity problems have become virtually unfixable thanks to the outdated thinking that dept brings to the table. At least with curriculum we can adapt and try to improve when a good idea fails in application. The consequences of poor facilities planning is turning mcps into a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would fire the dead weight and dysfunctional core in the division of long range planning. The capacity problems have become virtually unfixable thanks to the outdated thinking that dept brings to the table. At least with curriculum we can adapt and try to improve when a good idea fails in application. The consequences of poor facilities planning is turning mcps into a joke.

What is the outdated thinking? What should the current thinking be?