Forbes on STEM in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

Montgomery County is getting national recognition for STEM failure. Nice job.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2014/06/30/an-82-percent-failure-rate-on-high-school-algebra-exams/

[Anonymous]

What does it say about Forbes if it runs a piece from a contributor that starts "What does it say about our public school system when 82% of the high school students in a suburban county fail their Algebra 1 final exams? It implies quite strongly that our public schools are not doing a good job preparing America’s students in science, technology engineering and math (STEM) fields."

A minority of students in one math class in one public school system had an 82% failure rate on one final exam, which was a new final exam for a new curriculum, and that implies "quite strongly" that US public schools are failing at STEM?

Good grief.

[Anonymous]

I don't think anyone is walking away from reading that article thinking Forbes is bad an Montgomery County has a great school system.

The math failures are not a small deal nor should we let MCPS sweep them under the rug.

Oddly, negative national exposure may put more pressure on MCPS to change than local parents complaining. The politics of Montgomery County are very insular between the BOE, MCPS, and union. As long as they keep each other happy, they don't really care whether they are delivering a good education or whether parents and students know it. There are many in the system with higher aspirations so national exposure for the problems is good for us.

[Anonymous]

Moar taxes so illegals can eat better

[Anonymous]

The substantial increase in math failures this year was not aligned with immigrants -legal or illegal. MCPS would blaming "changing demographics" in a heart beat if the data lined up this way.

I also don't believe for a second that snow or any of the other lame excuses MCPS did give hold any water. Perhaps it was a secret weapon developed out in the defense sector of Virginia to dumb down Montgomery students despite a brilliant math program?

If Rockville parents hadn't been persistent enough to get last year's math scores despite MCPS hiding them, we wouldn't know about this year's scores either. The only reason they came forward publicly was because they knew people would be watching after last year's failure. This year the failures grew substantially despite MCPS being "on it" from the crisis last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think anyone is walking away from reading that article thinking Forbes is bad an Montgomery County has a great school system.

The math failures are not a small deal nor should we let MCPS sweep them under the rug.

Oddly, negative national exposure may put more pressure on MCPS to change than local parents complaining. The politics of Montgomery County are very insular between the BOE, MCPS, and union. As long as they keep each other happy, they don't really care whether they are delivering a good education or whether parents and students know it. There are many in the system with higher aspirations so national exposure for the problems is good for us.

+1 Go Forbes. I've been annoyed at how little media coverage there's been about this.

[Anonymous]

Wake Up People. This school system stinks. It starts with the use of MCPS credit cards for personal use. The money is small, but there is a trust and integrity issue here. Do you think people that have $50 lunches all the time and buy tires and computer bags with MCPS money are the kind of people that are passionate and focused about student achievement. I don't.

From all this flows an embarrassing 82% failure rate on HS Algebra I. This is the county that wants 100% of 8th graders to take to Algebra I.

Stop trying to explain away this mess. It is embarrassing. Vote in a new BOE. Get a new superintendent.

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is a direct line from the misuse of credit cards by BOE members to the failure rate on one math exam among a subgroup of the students who took it. I'm just not sure what it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, there is a direct line from the misuse of credit cards by BOE members to the failure rate on one math exam among a subgroup of the students who took it. I'm just not sure what it is.

It's an organization that is not focused on their primary task. Not direct, but it is related.

[Anonymous]

Wake Up People. This school system stinks. It starts with the use of MCPS credit cards for personal use. The money is small, but there is a trust and integrity issue here. Do you think people that have $50 lunches all the time and buy tires and computer bags with MCPS money are the kind of people that are passionate and focused about student achievement. I don't.

From all this flows an embarrassing 82% failure rate on HS Algebra I. This is the county that wants 100% of 8th graders to take to Algebra I.

Stop trying to explain away this mess. It is embarrassing. Vote in a new BOE. Get a new superintendent.

+100 I don't care that much about incidental expenditures but why are all the employees in MCPS and the BOE so damn dumb? Starr had no experience running a large organization, was at best a substitute teacher, and for all his faux academic musings has never accomplished one thing in academia or can even legitimately be considered part of this group. The rest of MCPS has been there forever without ever succeeding at anything. Its life lifetime employment for people incapable of adequate performance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

+100 I don't care that much about incidental expenditures but why are all the employees in MCPS and the BOE so damn dumb? Starr had no experience running a large organization, was at best a substitute teacher, and for all his faux academic musings has never accomplished one thing in academia or can even legitimately be considered part of this group. The rest of MCPS has been there forever without ever succeeding at anything. Its life lifetime employment for people incapable of adequate performance.

Who would do a better job? Which large public school system in the US should MCPS emulate?

[Anonymous]

Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax

Lots of complaints from DCUMers in Fairfax:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/60.page
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/forums/show/45.page

[Anonymous]

Nothing even close to the problems in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

At the ES level, we've been very disappointed at how MCPS handles science. For all the lip service and talk of STEM being important the science is basically reading and team work projects. Team work is a good skill but the 3rd graders overly focused on this rather than doing any actual science. The assignments were far more language and writing focused than scientific observation or understanding scientific concepts. What concerned us the most was that DS's teacher considered herself a STEM teaching expert and she seemed to be looked up to by other teachers throughout the school as the STEM expert. If she was the expert, its no wonder science and math is now the weak link in MCPS!