Is your child’s learning gaps being filled in?

[Anonymous]

I received a letter stating that all students with 504 plans during online learning were supposed to have meetings to consider compensatory services. The meeting for my child never happened though. MCPS is pretty crappy and dishonest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this wealthy country, with high housing costs, no universal healthcare or childcare (the cost of daycare, preschool, and before- and after-school care is astronomical) ...

this often means both parents work. and with single parent households, and nuclear families with smaller support networks ...

we shouldn't be surprised kids don't get the parental attention they need. So yes it is difficult for overstretched parents to help their kids with homework or deal with behavioral issues.

You can move to an area with lower housing costs. There are plenty of homes in this area for $400-500K, you don't need a million dollar home.

There is zero excuse for parents not to help with homework except if you don't speak english or having learning disabilities/educational struggles.

People like you are the problem as you'd rather complain than help your kids.

And, there are child care programs for low income. The rec department has income waivers for summer programs. Some schools have free before/after school care. And, we have low income universal health care. You'd know all this if you were low income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My first grader gets targeted intervention in school, every first and second grader us getting either targeted enrichment or interventions. Her reading is a bit behind (I think she's a level 6?) But her math and writing are very strong. One of her Christmas presents to her teacher was writing a letter to her teacher explaining why she liked her so much.

My first grader is maybe reading at 10 which is likely much lower than they'd be if there hadn't been DL. I'm no reading teacher, but I also tried to work them for 30 minutes a day throughout the pandemic and over the summer.

That's called parenting which is something you should be doing with your child all of the time. Who are the students who are behind? Mostly ones with checked-out parents.

That's my take as well. All the parents complaining about gaps are the same ones who did nothing but complain during DL and never did anything for their kids.

You are so out of line. I have an upper elem student with learning disabilities. I was working remotely so I greatly reduced my work hours and worked early am and late at night so I could be very involved in my DC’s virtual learning experience. Guess what, kids don’t always work as well with their parents as they do with teachers and therapists. And as I posted upthread we are paying for tutors. I did everything I could short of quitting my job to homeschool which would have been financially impossible. Stop with this rude and unfair “sorry you were forced to parent your kids” nonsense. MCPS apologist or just a total jerk?

+1 I work in healthcare so I didn’t have the luxury of working from home. I did my best to hire specialists to keep up the speech and occupational services my child needed. There was no substitute though for the lack of social interaction with other kids.

And if you want to go to - I should have quit my job to teach my child - trust me I considered. I had coworkers who did quit. The teacher shortage is nothing like the healthcare burn out and shortage caused by COVID. Remember that as hospitals are once again filling up.

MCPS needs to do better to address the learning loss of any student that regressed. They have data presented at BOE meetings that highlighted that students with disabilities were a particularly vulnerable population yet they are still being ignored.

MCPS has always struggled academically even before covid. Those of us whose SN (or not SN) kids who thrived, thrived, not because of MCPS but the outside services, tutoring/supplementing and support parents provided.

You can always socialize outside school. Lots of options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

All the evidence suggests otherwise. When I was in MCPS 30 years ago the average SAT score was maybe 1000. Today it's more like 1400. It's pretty clear this dramatic increase in these standardized test scores is because the high-quality of education is just getting better and better with each year.

Stop contradicting our narrative about failing schools with facts!!

These tests have been revised several times since then. Its not the same test and the same scale for the past 30 years.

Nice try but that doesn't cut it since it accounts only for a small portion of the vast gains made.

I'd also add people get out of MCPS or any school what they put into it and many expect a lot and do so little. They're unhappy but that isn't really a surprise. They'd do poorly anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

My child’s written work and assessments are kept by teachers at school. It’s a struggle of repeated asks to see them because they are not returned to students.

Logical ways to allow parents to see what is done in school is to scan or send the work home with a student. I like to see my child’s work so I can review the mistakes with my child so my child digests the graded feedback and fills in skills that were missed. This obviously is a task teachers are not doing at school. Teachers give an assignment or an assessment then move on to the next unit.

This is high school. Canvas gives no feedback whatsoever except a grade. Work and assessments from class shows the process and steps that a child understood or needs to relearn. Learning from mistakes is a cornerstone of the educational process.

[Anonymous]

FERPA gives a parent the right to review any educational record for a child. Even assessments. The teacher (or Central Office) can write new tests if they have any concerns about the questions being public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

My child’s written work and assessments are kept by teachers at school. It’s a struggle of repeated asks to see them because they are not returned to students.

Logical ways to allow parents to see what is done in school is to scan or send the work home with a student. I like to see my child’s work so I can review the mistakes with my child so my child digests the graded feedback and fills in skills that were missed. This obviously is a task teachers are not doing at school. Teachers give an assignment or an assessment then move on to the next unit.

This is high school. Canvas gives no feedback whatsoever except a grade. Work and assessments from class shows the process and steps that a child understood or needs to relearn. Learning from mistakes is a cornerstone of the educational process.

This is normal. We rarely have gotten feedback from assignments that were not submitted online. One bonus of virtual learning is you can monitor things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

Socially passing kids is terrible as if they don't get the skills in the prior years, especially in math and english, they cannot continue onto the next grade and be successful. That is a good example of a terrible education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

My child’s written work and assessments are kept by teachers at school. It’s a struggle of repeated asks to see them because they are not returned to students.

Logical ways to allow parents to see what is done in school is to scan or send the work home with a student. I like to see my child’s work so I can review the mistakes with my child so my child digests the graded feedback and fills in skills that were missed. This obviously is a task teachers are not doing at school. Teachers give an assignment or an assessment then move on to the next unit.

This is high school. Canvas gives no feedback whatsoever except a grade. Work and assessments from class shows the process and steps that a child understood or needs to relearn. Learning from mistakes is a cornerstone of the educational process.

Does your high schooler have learning challenges? If my high schooler struggles on an assignment, he talks to the teacher. I’ve never ask to see his day to day assignments.

Teachers can provide feedback in canvas, or if the assignment is linked to a google doc, you can look at the comments the teachers has left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

That's strange. I feel my kids are getting a much better education than I did at a W 30 years ago before attending an ivy.

You either have a bad memory or aren't very familiar with what's going on in the classroom now.

NP here, I disagree with you. I don’t feel my children have received a sub par education. You may be able to find a district with similar stats (ESOL, FARMS, etc) that has done better but MCPS overall prepares students quite well. What experiences and data do you have to support such statements?

MCPS giving students students unearned grades just to keep passing students through without basic skills. No late penalties and a minimum 50% is part of that problem. Keeping work examples at school so parents can’t see the real results is another factor. Same is true for all the 100% grades for completion or test corrections.

Work samples? Ask your child- they are probably in canvas. Assessments will not be sent home, for obvious reasons.

I don’t think either of those are examples of a terrible education. I don’t agree with the 50% policy but I’m not sure it’s still in place this year. Most teachers I know were opposed to it, but it doesn’t mean the instruction is terrible. Just a bad policy.

My child’s written work and assessments are kept by teachers at school. It’s a struggle of repeated asks to see them because they are not returned to students.

Logical ways to allow parents to see what is done in school is to scan or send the work home with a student. I like to see my child’s work so I can review the mistakes with my child so my child digests the graded feedback and fills in skills that were missed. This obviously is a task teachers are not doing at school. Teachers give an assignment or an assessment then move on to the next unit.

This is high school. Canvas gives no feedback whatsoever except a grade. Work and assessments from class shows the process and steps that a child understood or needs to relearn. Learning from mistakes is a cornerstone of the educational process.

Does your high schooler have learning challenges? If my high schooler struggles on an assignment, he talks to the teacher. I’ve never ask to see his day to day assignments.

Teachers can provide feedback in canvas, or if the assignment is linked to a google doc, you can look at the comments the teachers has left.

My child has an IEP that wasn’t implemented during online learning and isn’t being fully implemented this year.

He meets almost every office hour with one teacher. She is a general educator who is trying to meet his needs. However, he needs the help of a special educator who understands his disabilities. For another subject, my son has gone in during office hours but he is referred to videos which he doesn’t process well because of his disabilities. We need work examples for at home support and to help him learn study skills.

[Anonymous]

MCPS has reported learning gaps to the BOE for special populations. What’s the plan to fill in the gaps?

There are too many vacancies for teachers, substitutes, para educators, special educators, school psychologists, and service providers (speech, occupational, etc) to do what needs to be done. Money is wasted at the central office level with PR consultants and extra days off versus solving the human resource crisis in the school system. Dr. McKnight has done a poor job leading MCPS and the children are paying the consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a tutor or Saturday school.

Nope, the school has an obligation to address these gaps.

You should’ve learned that public education in this country is a joke. We all saw that last year with online learning. Get your kid a tutor.

Public education here is excellent, but there are many hyper-privileged types that expect the county to raise their kids for them.

LMAO. Excellent? Not by a long shot. Especially not in MoCo. We do have some excellent teachers. But the school system as a whole is pretty subpar.

All the evidence suggests otherwise. When I was in MCPS 30 years ago the average SAT score was maybe 1000. Today it's more like 1400. It's pretty clear this dramatic increase in these standardized test scores is because the high-quality of education is just getting better and better with each year.

Stop contradicting our narrative about failing schools with facts!!

These tests have been revised several times since then. Its not the same test and the same scale for the past 30 years.

Nice try but that doesn't cut it since it accounts only for a small portion of the vast gains made.

Very true but facts aren't popular with this crowd.

[Anonymous]

Besides being recalibrated, how many kids had SAT prep classes/ tutors to prepare them for the test 25 years ago? How many do now, especially at the wealthier MCPS schools?

How many kids took timed standardized tests on a regular basis 25 years ago as compared to kids today who are constantly tested since they are little? So all these students have also gotten additional practice in test taking and test taking strategies.

This along with the ubiquitous SAT prep of today’s students accounts for some of that increase in SAT scores. Not the excellent education that MCPS is providing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Besides being recalibrated, how many kids had SAT prep classes/ tutors to prepare them for the test 25 years ago? How many do now, especially at the wealthier MCPS schools?

How many kids took timed standardized tests on a regular basis 25 years ago as compared to kids today who are constantly tested since they are little? So all these students have also gotten additional practice in test taking and test taking strategies.

This along with the ubiquitous SAT prep of today’s students accounts for some of that increase in SAT scores. Not the excellent education that MCPS is providing.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses. Bottom line kids today score much higher than in the past. This is a clear indication that things are much better now.