Superintendent Taylor admits there is grade inflation in MCPS during BoE meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who cares!?! Seriously why get all wound up over this. My teen is in magnet math is doing great. There are wonderful opportunities for anyone who is interested and if you aren't then that's your choice.

Who cares.

[Anonymous]

Teachers need a structure that is fair for everyone and also fair for them. If their are grey areas that are designed for manipulation that dmin can hold against teachers and threaten the jobs of teachers with the admin will usually harass and coerce teachers without regard for fairness and equity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers need a structure that is fair for everyone and also fair for them. If their are grey areas that are designed for manipulation that dmin can hold against teachers and threaten the jobs of teachers with the admin will usually harass and coerce teachers without regard for fairness and equity

Admin wanting to show they have power, how they forget so quickly that they too were teachers not too long ago and probably sucked at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What even is the point of inflating grades if there is standardized testing? The disparity comes out eventually.

Is it just about buying time?

It provides a data set that looks good to the eye. If a high percentage of black and brown students are failing the majority of their classes, then that's the fault of MCPS. If a high percentage of black and brown students fail a state assessment, you can call the test biased and racist.

This is definitely the safest play. Combine it with teachers getting blamed whenever kids get E’s or D’s. At some middle schools over 80% of kids get straight A’s.

[Anonymous]

But we teachers who got strait A's in college by volunteering and paying insane college tuitions for the betterment of studwnts- yeah we get hassled because we are not reading the numbers enough. That's crazy town. And mcps and admin and our own union seem like they support this sacrifice the careers of teacher for the sake of covering up student laziness and antisocial behavior.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

Better yet, send them back to a classroom for a couple years so they can experience the shit show for themselves and finally start to comprehend the dismal state of things

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

The Great Courses
Khan Academy
Textbooks.

Anyone can teach their kids Maths at home if they are literate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

The Great Courses
Khan Academy
Textbooks.

Anyone can teach their kids Maths at home if they are literate.

I think a big part of the problem is we keep looking to the “experts” in Central Office to fix the problems they made, and their idea of fixing it is to double down. Let’s find a commercial curriculum with good results elsewhere, and go with it. I’d rather have a curriculum (any curriculum) produced by subject matter experts, that has a proven track record, than anything our Central Office staff can throw together. A commercial curriculum would provide students a reference to use at home. Moreover, it would allow parents to evaluate the curriculum for themselves. If it turns out to be a flawed curriculum, the weaknesses would be more readily exposed, rather than being hidden with parents only seeing inflated grades and receiving assurances that “MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country.”

I also agree 100% with the PP teacher about calculator dependence. Calculators usage should be saved for advanced math, well after students have mastered basic arithmetic. I was appalled when my children’s elementary started pushing calculator usage in 3rd grade, and instituted the rule that while they should use calculators as directed in the classroom, they were not allowed to use them for homework without asking for specific permission. I think I allowed them to start using their own discretion somewhere around Algebra 2 or Trig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

There is no overhauling math in a year for a public school district with 160k students. Especially without a huge influx of resources. Especially since the first overhaul would have to start with Teachers, many of whom don’t understand math. Just because you learned something doesn’t mean you have a firm enough grasp and mastery of the subject material to be great at teaching it to others. It’s the same reason why parents are struggling to help their kid with the homework. Folks keep saying, “we didn’t learn it this way.” True, but the reality is that if you understood the math it shouldn’t take you a long time to understand a different math strategy. Second, you would need more people available in schools and outside of school to provide intervention support for students and coaching/PD for staff. There are only 12 math coaches(8 at the ES level and 4 at the MS level). There’s 134 ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

The Great Courses
Khan Academy
Textbooks.

Anyone can teach their kids Maths at home if they are literate.

I think a big part of the problem is we keep looking to the “experts” in Central Office to fix the problems they made, and their idea of fixing it is to double down. Let’s find a commercial curriculum with good results elsewhere, and go with it. I’d rather have a curriculum (any curriculum) produced by subject matter experts, that has a proven track record, than anything our Central Office staff can throw together. A commercial curriculum would provide students a reference to use at home. Moreover, it would allow parents to evaluate the curriculum for themselves. If it turns out to be a flawed curriculum, the weaknesses would be more readily exposed, rather than being hidden with parents only seeing inflated grades and receiving assurances that “MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country.”

I also agree 100% with the PP teacher about calculator dependence. Calculators usage should be saved for advanced math, well after students have mastered basic arithmetic. I was appalled when my children’s elementary started pushing calculator usage in 3rd grade, and instituted the rule that while they should use calculators as directed in the classroom, they were not allowed to use them for homework without asking for specific permission. I think I allowed them to start using their own discretion somewhere around Algebra 2 or Trig.

Eureka Math is used K-Geometry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

The Great Courses
Khan Academy
Textbooks.

Anyone can teach their kids Maths at home if they are literate.

I think a big part of the problem is we keep looking to the “experts” in Central Office to fix the problems they made, and their idea of fixing it is to double down. Let’s find a commercial curriculum with good results elsewhere, and go with it. I’d rather have a curriculum (any curriculum) produced by subject matter experts, that has a proven track record, than anything our Central Office staff can throw together. A commercial curriculum would provide students a reference to use at home. Moreover, it would allow parents to evaluate the curriculum for themselves. If it turns out to be a flawed curriculum, the weaknesses would be more readily exposed, rather than being hidden with parents only seeing inflated grades and receiving assurances that “MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country.”

I also agree 100% with the PP teacher about calculator dependence. Calculators usage should be saved for advanced math, well after students have mastered basic arithmetic. I was appalled when my children’s elementary started pushing calculator usage in 3rd grade, and instituted the rule that while they should use calculators as directed in the classroom, they were not allowed to use them for homework without asking for specific permission. I think I allowed them to start using their own discretion somewhere around Algebra 2 or Trig.

Eureka Math is used K-Geometry.

PP you responded to

I am delighted to hear that they have implemented a standard curriculum.

- Do you know when it was implemented? I think that until the curriculum audit of 2018, MCPS was using their proprietary Curriculum 2.0. After the curriculum, my understanding was that they were going to select a curriculum and gradually roll it out, but that the rollout was disrupted by COVID. Even if they had the new curriculum in place in Fall of 2018, those Ks still wouldn’t have progressed to high school math yet.

- For those with experience with Eureka Math, what is your opinion? It seems to be fairly rigorous, from what I can glean, emphasizing both conceptual understanding and memorization of basic facts. Do those who’ve seen it feel it provides a solid mathematical foundation? Does it discourage calculator usage in early grades?

From what I can see online there seems to be concern that the math curriculum requires too much reading in the early grades, has that been the experience here?

It seems that Eureka emphasizes methods designed to promote understanding, but is there too much emphasis on learning these strategies, themselves, over learning the actual math?

I am concerned that it appears to be a spiral curriculum, which in my experience means that those who initially master a concept get bored seeing it over and over again each year, while those who don’t master it, forget most of what they did learn, only to be face more challenging levels of that concept with a muddled understanding, making it even harder to wrestle with it.

A PP indicated that MCPS has a problem with teachers who don’t understand math. Would we do better with a scripted curriculum (which Eureka does not appear to be)?

It sounds like this may be a large step in the right direction, but even so, it will take several years for it to improve the level of our graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Math education in MCPS is a hot mess. There are kids who do well despite MCPS. But they are generally from higher income families and have the luxury of math tutors, or parents helping them at home or they are just very bright and pick up math easily. But in general, students are not picking up basic math skills. And worse, they do not understand how to manipulate numbers at the most basic level possible. High school kids have no idea how to multiply or divide without a calculator. They can’t catch any mistakes because they blindly follow problem solving steps with no understanding of what they are doing. Central Office administrators responsible for math should be given a year to come up with a strong plan to completely overhaul math instruction and if they can’t get their act together, they should be fired

The Great Courses
Khan Academy
Textbooks.

Anyone can teach their kids Maths at home if they are literate.

What an ignorant comment. You must not have any children, and if you do, oh boy.

[Anonymous]

If y'all don't visit the hilarious College forum, here is a link to a recent thread:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1225943.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, this is OP. I guess the portion of the meeting I described happens closer to to 2 hours and 21 minutes in. I know people's attention span and patience is much shorter these days, so don't want that one minute difference to throw anyone off.

You were 20 minutes off, so I don't know if you are someone to look to for math leadership.

Also, the answer wasn't "word salad"; it was accurate. Wolff asked about "standards based grading", and Loznak answered. Wolff was trying to ask something about whether the grades were against grade level standards, but she used the wrong term.

(Overall, I'm unimpressed with how the Board seems to know so little about the school system they oversee. Another board member said she didn't know they pay for curriculum material every year.)

When Wolff clarified her question, Taylor jumped on and interrupted while Loznak was thinking about her answer, I just as she paused to think about the answer to the previous question.

Anyway, after Taylor got his comedy moment in, the conversation just moved on to a different topic without getting into anything about what the district might do to either justify or mitigate the grade inflation.

So that was a big waste of time.