Seniors and families: your MCPS experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the posters saying get tutors, hasn't the school system failed if that many students are needing tutors? Whether it's $8 or $100 an hour, how is this okay? Equity??

The school offers tutors. And kids have significant opportunities to get supplemental assistance from teachers.

People can try to demean MCPS as much as they want. But the fact is that there are tons of resources.

Where? Our school offers no tutors, teachers don’t respond to parents and don’t even grade till last minute. You are lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the posters saying get tutors, hasn't the school system failed if that many students are needing tutors? Whether it's $8 or $100 an hour, how is this okay? Equity??

Equity? Be real. There is no such thing as equity. Mcps greatly caries by school. Those of us at not so well rated schools don’t get the same classes and learning experiences so we are on our on. We have teachers who barely teach and tell the kids to watch videos and others who are absent more than there.

Yep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great if schools have the resources to get tutors for students who need them. Not all families have the resources for tutoring services even if they are not lower SES

Mcps used to offer free tutoring for all. Few used it. Our school has no resources for help. My kid is struggling, teachers don’t grade it respond, several are barely there this year, random curriculum and we were refused an iep. So what other option do we have but tutor?

lack of feedback. teachers in HS don't have time to give feedback to 160 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the posters saying get tutors, hasn't the school system failed if that many students are needing tutors? Whether it's $8 or $100 an hour, how is this okay? Equity??

The school offers tutors. And kids have significant opportunities to get supplemental assistance from teachers.

People can try to demean MCPS as much as they want. But the fact is that there are tons of resources.

Where? Our school offers no tutors, teachers don’t respond to parents and don’t even grade till last minute. You are lucky.

Some are like this and those in turn ask their students for patience. Students have already given their patience, grade the damn thing already! Then there are teachers in the same school who are juggling many responsibilties outside school but still manage to grade everything days before the end of a quarter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great if schools have the resources to get tutors for students who need them. Not all families have the resources for tutoring services even if they are not lower SES

Mcps used to offer free tutoring for all. Few used it. Our school has no resources for help. My kid is struggling, teachers don’t grade it respond, several are barely there this year, random curriculum and we were refused an iep. So what other option do we have but tutor?

lack of feedback. teachers in HS don't have time to give feedback to 160 students.

That’s their job and they teach 5 classes, some 4, so no where near 160 except arts teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great if schools have the resources to get tutors for students who need them. Not all families have the resources for tutoring services even if they are not lower SES

Mcps used to offer free tutoring for all. Few used it. Our school has no resources for help. My kid is struggling, teachers don’t grade it respond, several are barely there this year, random curriculum and we were refused an iep. So what other option do we have but tutor?

lack of feedback. teachers in HS don't have time to give feedback to 160 students.

That’s their job and they teach 5 classes, some 4, so no where near 160 except arts teachers.

Then they are not doing their job. And yes some teachers do have that many students. Not every HS is small like Rockville HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Focus on the person your child is becoming not which classes they are taking.

💯

[Anonymous]

Dress in layers because some of the schools are old as time and classrooms will be way too cold or way too hot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go private.

Yep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go private.

Yep.

Want to send us a check for 40K a year? If not the rest of us will take the best of what we can get from MCPS for free, and use the money we're saving to supplement with tutors/enrichment activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

No this is not true. Interests can change and course offerings too. Some are trying to get a better high school experience without only thinking about where to apply to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's great if schools have the resources to get tutors for students who need them. Not all families have the resources for tutoring services even if they are not lower SES

Mcps used to offer free tutoring for all. Few used it. Our school has no resources for help. My kid is struggling, teachers don’t grade it respond, several are barely there this year, random curriculum and we were refused an iep. So what other option do we have but tutor?

lack of feedback. teachers in HS don't have time to give feedback to 160 students.

That’s their job and they teach 5 classes, some 4, so no where near 160 except arts teachers.

Then they are not doing their job. And yes some teachers do have that many students. Not every HS is small like Rockville HS.

We aren’t at Rockville. That’s great if they are smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

No this is not true. Interests can change and course offerings too. Some are trying to get a better high school experience without only thinking about where to apply to college.

I wish we looked as ours does not have advanced math or science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest graduated in '23 and my youngest is in high school now.

What's important is mapping out the high school courses in 8th grade when they have to pick 9th grade courses, so you have a 4 year plan. It can change, of course, but the mental exercise of looking at everything the high school offers and balancing AP courses and their prerequisites so your kid doesn't get 6 APs in one year, is pretty eye-opening. Not to mention that some prerequisites can be waived if you ask. Health courses can be taken in the summer.

I was on the PTA executive board of my kids' elementary for many years. After that, my involvement and volunteering decreased. I did not find that school involvement was important in high school, but my involvement in my teen's life was and is of paramount importance. However adolescents are prickly, so that bond of trust needs to be built before adolescence, and then nurtured throughout.

No this is not true. Interests can change and course offerings too. Some are trying to get a better high school experience without only thinking about where to apply to college.

I wish we looked as ours does not have advanced math or science.

Which one is that if you can share? How can it not have advanced math even if it's just one level higher, or science??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the posters saying get tutors, hasn't the school system failed if that many students are needing tutors? Whether it's $8 or $100 an hour, how is this okay? Equity??

Oh, my dear, you know nothing. I live in Bethesda, where half my friends and neighbors send their kids to privates and half send their kids to MCPS.

100% of the kids end up having a tutor at some point. Some to get ahead and stay ahead, and some for remediation.

As I've explained many times before, tutoring and supplementation are mostly correlated with family wealth. Not whether the family is in private or public. Except now in recent years, there's a growing industry of remote tutoring, as posters have mentioned, that brings down the cost of virtual tutors considerably. But near my house, there's Prep Matters where you can get a senior tutor at $250/hr. I paid for one of those for my kid with severe ADHD and dyscalculia! Worked out well, actually

Public school cannot make wealth differences disappear, PP. That's impossible. This happens in every country, even ones in Europe and Asia with much better social services than the US.

One of the most candid posts on DCUM