SAT day time wasters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was told be their coach they have to go to school. They have practice and first games tomorrow.

I meant practice tomorrow and first games on Thurs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid was told be their coach they have to go to school. They have practice and first games tomorrow.

Exhibit B in the inconsistent messaging I cited coming from school-based staff and admin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lucky! I wish we had AP study sessions.
Our school has "Rocket Refresh" in cafeteria, ie they "will be expected to access their coursework until testing is completed and classes resume". I am picturing 5 hour food fight in my mind

Classes will be like 15min each. What's the point?

My kid will prep for AP exams at home then go out with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school was going to keep kids in the theater all morning for an activity. My daughter stayed home. We dropped her off at noon for her first class, and she said that there is nobody in her classes today.

I have an older DC now a freshman in college.

Most kids not taking the SATs don't show up for SAT day. It's not a new thing.

DC#2 will be staying home and studying for their APs, then go out with friends.

I don't let my kids otherwise ditch school, and I expect them to get good grades. But, this is like making your kids go to the last day of school which is a half day. Nothing is going to happen in class because the classes are super short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
SLEEP and STUDY time at home, OP.

You couldn't care less whether your kid gets marked absent. They need to prioritize their health and academics, in that order.

This is what my kids did/do. Oldest is doing well in college now. At some point you have to teach your kids that their own interests and their institution's interest sometimes do not match.

This. I don’t understand why parents and kids get so hung up on attendance. It literally means nothing these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SLEEP and STUDY time at home, OP.

You couldn't care less whether your kid gets marked absent. They need to prioritize their health and academics, in that order.

This is what my kids did/do. Oldest is doing well in college now. At some point you have to teach your kids that their own interests and their institution's interest sometimes do not match.

This. I don’t understand why parents and kids get so hung up on attendance. It literally means nothing these days

Exhibit C on how students and families have interpreted MCPS's inconsistent, mixed messaging on the importance and necessity of daily or even REGULAR school attendance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.

Let your kids enjoy a day off. What is the big deal? This has nothing to do with chronic absenteeism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.

That ain't it.

But it is. The inconsistency and incongruity in MCPS message tells kids the truth. You can't on the one hand, in BS messaging like this insist that every day of school attendance counts and matters:

And then informally tell students and families that they should skip school on testing days like this.

You are completely off. Kids understand the importance of SAT. Kids understand nuance unlike you who can only think in black and white

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.

That ain't it.

But it is. The inconsistency and incongruity in MCPS message tells kids the truth. You can't on the one hand, in BS messaging like this insist that every day of school attendance counts and matters:

And then informally tell students and families that they should skip school on testing days like this.

You are completely off. Kids understand the importance of SAT. Kids understand nuance unlike you who can only think in black and white

You'd better take a look elsewhere in the thread. Exhibits B and C might be of interest to you.

Students and families have definitely internalized the message that they don't HAVE to be in school every day and a big reason for that is the mixed messaging from school-based admin and staff.

Central Office spends thousands of dollars developign communications and messaging that crows, "Kids need to be in school EVERY day! Every day matters!"

Meanwhile, school-based staff and admin wink behind their backs and whisper discreetly, "Well, not EVERY day...."

And that's fine. But someone should tell MCPS CO communications to shut up about insisting kids need to be in school every day to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school was going to keep kids in the theater all morning for an activity. My daughter stayed home. We dropped her off at noon for her first class, and she said that there is nobody in her classes today.

I don’t understand why you even sent her to school at all? That’s on you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
SLEEP and STUDY time at home, OP.

You couldn't care less whether your kid gets marked absent. They need to prioritize their health and academics, in that order.

This is what my kids did/do. Oldest is doing well in college now. At some point you have to teach your kids that their own interests and their institution's interest sometimes do not match.

This. I don’t understand why parents and kids get so hung up on attendance. It literally means nothing these days

Exhibit C on how students and families have interpreted MCPS's inconsistent, mixed messaging on the importance and necessity of daily or even REGULAR school attendance.

The person you are responding to is correct. There are no consequences in MCPS any more for missing school. You can miss months and months of school and there are no consequences.

[Anonymous]

Our high school has options for practice AP or IB tests, SSL hours, and testing for other state-required things for kids who need them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.

That ain't it.

But it is. The inconsistency and incongruity in MCPS message tells kids the truth. You can't on the one hand, in BS messaging like this insist that every day of school attendance counts and matters:

And then informally tell students and families that they should skip school on testing days like this.

You are completely off. Kids understand the importance of SAT. Kids understand nuance unlike you who can only think in black and white

You'd better take a look elsewhere in the thread. Exhibits B and C might be of interest to you.

Students and families have definitely internalized the message that they don't HAVE to be in school every day and a big reason for that is the mixed messaging from school-based admin and staff.

Central Office spends thousands of dollars developign communications and messaging that crows, "Kids need to be in school EVERY day! Every day matters!"

Meanwhile, school-based staff and admin wink behind their backs and whisper discreetly, "Well, not EVERY day...."

And that's fine. But someone should tell MCPS CO communications to shut up about insisting kids need to be in school every day to be successful.

You are acting like MCPS has full control about attendance policies, but the inconsistency actually rolls down from state policies and actual legislation. At least one court case eliminated firm policies around truancy (a petite single mom asked the judge how exactly she was supposed to “force” her football player sized 15 year-old to go to school and stay there.) The legal age of mandatory attendance was raised from 16 to 18 in 2015. So now there are a bunch of teens who don’t want to be in school that are chronically absent instead of dropping out and going to work. The state just changed language around grading that removed all connection to attendance, which prompted the recent similar changes to MCPS’ policy. And yet a significant part of the state’s ratings for schools is chronic absenteeism (regardless of reason). Schools have to work to lower their absenteeism rates and have reporting requirements around it, yet it really isn’t in their control.

Fun fact - I have 10% of my HS 11th graders kicking off spring break 2 days early because their families made travel plans “a while ago”. So much for the big project they were supposed to present on Thursday. Thanks for screwing up planning for after break since now I have to carve out time from class for you to do what you should’ve been here for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know, stuff like this really gets at the heart of why chronic absenteeism is the problem that it is in MCPS.

To accommodate "free SAT testing" for MCPS juniors, we've disrupted and lost a whole instructional day for three other grade levels. The substitute activities range from somewhat worthy (Mock AP exams for those taking AP classes) to unworthy (unstructured "study halls" that kids just nap or play games in).

Because the schools know that these substitute activities are a joke, they informally tell students and parents that their kids can either stay home for the testing portion of the day or stay home altogether, since even the abbreviated classes that do happen aren't likely to cover critical material on what is essentially a half-day.

We should go back to SAT testing happening outside of the normal school day. I'm not convinced the juice of offering it for free to everyone is worth the squeeze.

That ain't it.

But it is. The inconsistency and incongruity in MCPS message tells kids the truth. You can't on the one hand, in BS messaging like this insist that every day of school attendance counts and matters:

And then informally tell students and families that they should skip school on testing days like this.

You are completely off. Kids understand the importance of SAT. Kids understand nuance unlike you who can only think in black and white

You'd better take a look elsewhere in the thread. Exhibits B and C might be of interest to you.

Students and families have definitely internalized the message that they don't HAVE to be in school every day and a big reason for that is the mixed messaging from school-based admin and staff.

Central Office spends thousands of dollars developign communications and messaging that crows, "Kids need to be in school EVERY day! Every day matters!"

Meanwhile, school-based staff and admin wink behind their backs and whisper discreetly, "Well, not EVERY day...."

And that's fine. But someone should tell MCPS CO communications to shut up about insisting kids need to be in school every day to be successful.

You are acting like MCPS has full control about attendance policies, but the inconsistency actually rolls down from state policies and actual legislation. At least one court case eliminated firm policies around truancy (a petite single mom asked the judge how exactly she was supposed to “force” her football player sized 15 year-old to go to school and stay there.) The legal age of mandatory attendance was raised from 16 to 18 in 2015. So now there are a bunch of teens who don’t want to be in school that are chronically absent instead of dropping out and going to work. The state just changed language around grading that removed all connection to attendance, which prompted the recent similar changes to MCPS’ policy. And yet a significant part of the state’s ratings for schools is chronic absenteeism (regardless of reason). Schools have to work to lower their absenteeism rates and have reporting requirements around it, yet it really isn’t in their control.

Fun fact - I have 10% of my HS 11th graders kicking off spring break 2 days early because their families made travel plans “a while ago”. So much for the big project they were supposed to present on Thursday. Thanks for screwing up planning for after break since now I have to carve out time from class for you to do what you should’ve been here for.

I actually didn't ascribe full blame to MCPS for the problem. I just said there's a lot of mixed, inconsistent messaging coming from the system.

Your insight is important context and nuance though. Which is probably why MCPS should avoid absolutist statements with regard to how it talks about the importance of attendance and the impacts of absenteeism.

[Anonymous]

DD senior went to school at about 1 pm for classes (which have a block period) and then play rehearsal. She slept in and just hung out until time to go to school. DD freshman at a different HS was unofficially encouraged by teachers to stay home I’ll day bc each class would only be 20 min each, and no one was planning to teach anything.